Conversion 


Religious  Experience 


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Conversion 


AND 


Religious  Experience 


BY 

REV.  OSCAR  S.  KRIEBEL,  A.  M., 

Author  of  "  Sanctification  versus  Christian  Perfection.  " 


Being  the  development  of  three  Sermons  preached  by  the 

Pastor  to  his  People  and  Published  by  Request. 

Dedicated  to  the  members  and  Friends 

OF  THE  Congregation  who  listened 

TO  THE  Spoken  Discourses. 


Pennsburg,  Penna. 

1907 


Copyright,  1907,  by  Rev.  Oscar  S.  Kriebel. 


PREFACE, 

This  treatise  on  Conversion  and  Religious  Experience  is  the 
outgrowth  of  a  special  sermon  preached  about  two  years  ago 
to  the  members  and  friends  of  my  congregation  on  the  general 
subject  of  salvation  and  religious  experience.  The  request  was 
made  at  that  time  that  the  sermon  be  put  in  writing  and  published 
for  general  distribution.  An  effort  was  made  to  carry  out  the 
wishes  of  friends,  but  lack  of  time  prevented  the  completion  of 
the  task  while  the  interest  in  the  subject  was  fresh.  Delays  and 
postponements  have  been  frequent  since  then,  and  it  is  only  recently 
that  time  and  strength  seemed  available  to  carry  the  unfinished 
work  through  to  completion. 

During  the  last  few  months  I  have  taken  the  opportunity  of 
preaching  three  different  sermons  on  the  following  phases  of  the 
subject  under  consideration  :  i.  Conversion  as  a  Radical  Change ; 
2.  Conversion  through  Christian  Culture;  3.  The  Varieties  of 
Religious  Experience.  In  these  discourses  I  endeavored  to  show 
that  for  the  confirmed  sinner  a  radical  transformation  in  con- 
version was  necessary,  as  shown  by  the  Bible  and  human  experi- 
ence, but  that  for  the  child  of  Christian  parentage  and  Christian 
surroundings  a  process  of  gradual  growth  and  development 
through  Christian  culture  was  the  normal  one  and  the  one  to 
be  aimed  at.  I  also  endeavored  to  show  why  there  is  such  a  large 
variety  of  religious  experience  during  the  process  of  moral  re- 
construction and  to  point  out  the  essential  and  the  non-essential 
elements  in  Christian  experience.  The  thoughts  presented  in  the 
spoken  discourses  are  somewhat  elaborated  in  this  treatise  and 
reenforced  and  substantiated  by  frequent  quotations  from  the 
works  of  the  best  modem  writers  on  the  subject.  The  form  of 
the  sermon  has,  therefore,  largely  given  place  to  the  method  of 
treatment  found  most  convenient  in  the  tract  or  the  printed  book. 

3 


The  Bible  is  the  great  text-book  for  information  on  these 
vital  subjects,  and  hence  I  have  sought  to  establish  my  position 
in  many  of  these  questions  by  frequent  quotations  from  its  pages. 
In  addition  to  the  Bible  and  general  reference  works  on  religious 
subjects,  I  have  found  "The  Spiritual  Life"  and  "The  Religion 
of  a  Mature  Mind,"  by  Prof.  Geo.  A.  Coe  of  Northwestern  Uni- 
versity, "The  Psychology  of  Religion,"  by  Prof.  E.  D.  Starbuck, 
now  of  Leland  Stanford  University,  and  "The  Varieties  of  Re- 
ligious Experience,"  by  Prof.  William  James,  the  well-known 
psychologist  and  philosopher  of  Harvard  University,  most  help- 
ful and  suggestive,  and  I  have  taken  the  liberty  of  quoting  freely 
from  these  authorities.  Among  other  valuable  books  consulted 
are  these :  "Jesus  Christ  and  the  Christian  Character,"  by  Prof. 
Francis  G.  Peabody  of  Harvard  University ;  "God's  Education  of 
Man,"  by  President  Hyde  of  Bowdoin  College ;  "The  Immanence 
of  God,"  by  Prof.  Borden  P.  Bowne  of  Boston  University ;  "The 
Philosophy  of  Christian  Experience,"  by  Henry  W.  Clarke; 
"Typical  New  Testament  Conversions,"  by  Dr.  Noble  of  the 
Union  Park  Congregational  Church,  Chicago;  "The  Ascent  of 
the  Soul,"  by  Dr.  Amory  H.  Bradford  of  the  "Outlook"  editorial 
staff ;  "The  Children's  Covenant,"  by  Rev.  C.  V.  Anthony  of  San 
Francisco;  "The  Religious  Affections,"  by  Jonathan  Edwards; 
and  others,  all  of  which  have  been  helpful  to  a  thorough  under- 
standing of  the  subject.  Pres.  King's  "Christian  Training  and 
the  Revival  as  Methods  of  Converting  Men"  is  a  most  excellent 
discussion,  in  brief  form,  of  certain  phases  of  the  question.  To 
all  these  writers,  and  others  not  referred  to  above,  I  am  under 
obligations  for  valuable  helps  and  suggestions  and  hereby  make 
public  acknowledgment  of  my  appreciation  of  their  efforts  for  a 
more  intelligent  understanding  of  these  important  religious 
questions. 

May  our  common  Lord  and  Master  bless  the  imperfect  efforts 
here  put  forth  to  the  salvation  and  edification  of  His  children. 

The   Author. 
Pennsburg,  Penna.,  February  7th,  1907. 


CONTENTS 


PART  ONE 

CONVERSION    AS  A  RADICAL   CHANGE 

Introductory 7 

I.  The  Necessity  of  Conversion  Considered 8 

II.  The  Scriptural  Terms  Used  for  Conversion 13 

i.     Cease  to  do  Evil,  Learn  to  do  Well 13 

2.  Put  off  the  "  Old  Man."  Put  on  the  "New  Man" 14 

3.  Crucified  with  Christ.     Risen  with  Him 18 

4.  The  "  New  Birth."    Born  from  Above 23 

5.  The  Prodigal  Son.     A  Typical  Case  of  Sin  and  Repentance    .  28 

PART  TWO 

CONVERSION  THROUGH  CHRISTIAN  CULTURE 

I.  Salvation  through  Christian  Culture  a  Scriptural  Doctrine 40 

1.^  iThe  Old  Testament  View  of  the  Child's  Religious  State    ...  43 

2.  The  Attitude  of  Jesus  toward  Children 45 

3.  The  Parables  of  Jesus  on  Salvation  through  Christian  Culture  49 

4.  The  Case  of  Timothy  as  a  Product  of  Christian  Culture     ...  53 

II.  The  Testimony  of  Experience  for  Salvation  through  Christian  Culture  55 

1.  The  Reality  and  Vividness  of  the  Child's  Religious  Life    ...  56 

2.  The  Importance  of  Early  Religious  Training 57 

3.  The  Possibility  of  a  Gradual  Growth  into  the  Fulness  of  the 

Religious  Life  without  a  Radical  Change  in  Conversion    .  59 

III.  The  View  of  the  Best  Modern  Religious  Teachers 6i 

1.  Horace  Bushnell  on  "  Christian  Culture  " 63 

2.  Dr.  Hibbard  on  "  The  Religion  of  Childhood  " 66 

3.  Coe  on  "  Salvation  through  Education  " 68 

4.  Other  Noted  Religious  Educators  on  Christian  Culture  ....  69 

IV.  The  Spiritual  Life   as  a    Personal  Relationship  of  the  Soul  to   its 

Heavenly  Father 72 

1.  As  Illustrated  by  Mature  Christians 74 

2.  As  Illustrated  by  the  Growing  Child 76 

5 


O  CONTENTS. 

V.  Some  Practical  Conclusions 81 

1.  Salvation  through  Christian  Culture  the  " Normal"  Process  81 

2.  Continual  Necessity  for  Efforts  to  Save  the  Unconverted  ....  82 

3.  Religious  "  Awakenings  "  not  to  be  Considered  Conversion  84 

4.  The  Fundamental  Thought,  the  One  "  Great  Question"     ...  85 

PART  THREE 
RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  IN  CONVERSION 

I.  Varieties  of  Religious  Experience 91 

1.  The  Emotional  Type  of  Conversion 92 

2.  The  Volitional  Type  of  Conversion 99 

3.  Room  for  Both  Types  of  Experience 103 

II.  Some  Reasons  for  the   Large  ^Variety    of  Religious  Experience  in 

Conversion 105 

1.  The  Character  of  the  Life  Led  Previous  to  Conversion      .    .    .  107 

2.  Differences  of  Temperament  Affect    Religious  Experience  in 

Conversion 110 

3.  The  Time  of  Adolescence  is  Significant  for  Religious  Changes    115 

4.  The  Religious  Environment  Affects  the  Character  of  Expe- 

rience in  Conversion 120 

III.  What  is  not  Essential  in  Religious  Experience 126 

1.  States  of  Feeling  are  not  Essential 127 

2.  "Visions,"  "Voices,"  "Trances,"  and  the  Like  not  Essential 

to  Christian  Experience    . 132 

3.  The  so-called  "Power  "  and  Religious  "  Ecstasy  "  not  Essential  135 

4.  The  Spirit  of  Over-Confidence  and  of  Self-Satisfaction  not  Es- 

sential     142 

IV.  What  is  Essential  in  Religious  Experience ,    .    .  147 

1.  The  Right  Attitude  of  the  Will  is  Essential      147 

2.  A  Reasonable  Degree  of  Christian  Assurance 153 

3.  The  Fruits  of  the  Spirit  are  All-Essential      159 

V.  Concluding  Remarks 167 


PART  ONE. 

CONVERSION  AS  A  RADICAL 
CHANGE. 


Introductory. 

It  will  be  the  purpose  of  this  treatise  to  discuss  conversion  as 
a  necessary  and  essential  experience  for  the  enjoyment  of  a  true 
spiritual  life.  There  is  a  natural  life  and  there  is  a  spiritual 
life.  Conversion  marks  the  point  of  transition  from  the  natural 
life  to  the  spiritual  life.  It  is  the  process  of  transformation  or  of 
regeneration  for  the  spiritual  nature.  Conversion  will  be  consid- 
ered in  these  pages  as  a  radical  change  of  heart  and  life  for  those 
who  have  lived  in  conscious  sin  and  disobedience.  And  it  will 
be  considered  as  a  gradual  unfolding  and  development  of  the 
religious  nature  for  the  child  of  Christian  parents  and  Christian 
training.  For  the  confirmed  sinner  a  radical  change  of  heart  and 
life  in  conversion  is  an  absolute  necessity.  For  the  growing  child 
of  Christian  parents  and  training  a  more  quiet  and  gradual  but 
no  less  radical  change  of  spiritual  life  may  be,  and  under  normal 
conditions  ought  to  be,  experienced  through  proper  Christian 
culture  and  education. 

The  first  part  of  our  discussion  will  deal  with  conversion  as 
a  radical  change  of  heart  and  life  for  the  sinner's  entrance  upon 
his  spiritual  career.  The  necessity  for  such  a  radical  change,  the 
terms  used  in  Scripture  to  define  conversion  of  this  type  and  the 
results  involved  in  its  processes  will  be  taken  up  in  order.  This  will 
be  followed  by  a  discussion  of  conversion  as  a  gradual  process 
of  unfolding  and  development  of  the  spiritual  nature  of  the  child 
through   Christian  culture   and   education.      The  child  is  to  be 

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regarded  as  belonging  to  God's  spiritual  household.  And  the  term 
conversion  will  be  used  for  this  less  radical  kind  of  an  experience 
through  Christian  growth  because  the  same  results  are  obtained 
and  the  same  ends  are  reached  and  consequently  the  same  spiritual 
activities  must  be  assumed  as  being  at  work  as  in  the  more  radi- 
cal and  more  striking  kind  of  conversion.  The  end  is  the  same — 
the  genuine  spiritual  life — the  Kingdom  of  God  on  earth.  And 
whether  we  enter  the  Kingdom  through  a  sudden  and  radical 
experience  or  through  a  quiet,  gradual  process  of  growth  and 
training  matters  little.  The  all-important  thing  is  that  the  human 
soul  should  lead  the  life  of  the  Spirit  and  should  show  forth  the 
fruits  of  the  Spirit  in  a  Hfe  of  unselfishness  and  true  Christian 
holiness.  The  true  spiritual  life,  the  unselfish  Christian  character, 
this  is  "the  one  thing  needful."  The  general  term  conversion  with 
its  implied  changes  will  serve  to  describe  both  types  of  experience 
referred  to  as  essential  for  admission  to  the  spiritual  Hfe. 

L     The  Necessity  of  Conversion  Considered. 

That  the  average  man  needs  a  change  of  heart  and  a  renew- 
ing of  his  mind  and  spirit,  with  a  resultant  change  of  his  whole  life 
and  conduct,  is  the  testimony  of  human  life  and  human  experi- 
ence among  Christian  people  everywhere.  That  man  is  prone  to  do 
evil  and  live  a  life  of  selfishness  and  of  sordid  pleasure,  indulging 
his  desires  and  passions  and  disregarding  the  needs  and  obligations 
of  his  higher  nature,  is  a  fact  of  world-wide  knowledge  and 
universal  observation.  Whatever  our  theories  may  be  as  to  the 
origin  of  sin  and  evil  in  the  world,  we  must  surely  recognize  the 
terrible  fact  of  its  presence  and  the  tremendous  power  of  its  in- 
fluence, with  its  demoralizing  and  blasting  effect  upon  human  souls 
in  all  states  and  conditions  of  their  growth  and  development. 

We  live  in  a  world  of  sin  and  sorrow.  We  are  surrounded 
by  individuals  and  institutions  which  bear  upon  them  the  impress 
of  unrighteousness  and  the  lack  of  moral  harmony.  We  are  con- 
fronted in  our  own  personal  lives  and  experiences  by  forces  and 
tendencies  which  draw  us  away  from  the  good  that  we  would 
do  and  ought  to  do  and  frequently  lead  us  into  a  course  of  conduct 


altogether  unworthy  of  our  divine  origin  and  spiritual  antecedents. 
We  feel  keenly  indeed  the  presence  in  us  and  the  existence  around 
about  us  of  tendencies  and  influences  which  conspire  to  lead  us 
earthward  rather  than  Heavenward,  which  seek  to  hold  us  in  their 
relentless  grasp  and  to  frustrate  the  beneficent  influences  and 
saving  forces  in  our  lives  and  thus  to  make  the  grace  and  power 
of  God  of  no  avail.  Surely  no  man  who  takes  his  own  life  seri- 
ously, or  who  observes  carefully  the  lives  and  demeanor  of  his 
fellowmen,  or  who  studies  profoundly  the  history  of  human  en- 
deavor and  human  progress  in  the  world,  will  deny  the  fact  that  sin 
is  a  matter  of  universal  experience  and  of  world-wide  significance 
and  that,  consequently,  the  absolute  necessity  of  deliverance  from 
sin  and  redemption  from  its  power  and  bHghting  effect  must  be 
recognized  as  equally  universal  and  all-inclusive.  As  wide  and  as 
universal  as  is  the  fact  of  sin  and  evil  in  the  world,  so  extensive 
and  all-embracing  must  be  the  necessity  for  a  radical  change  of 
the  moral  nature  and  for  a  profound  reconstruction  of  the  entire 
religious  life,  if  man  is  to  live  his  life  here  upon  earth  in  constant 
communion  with  his  Heavenly  Father  and  in  loving  service  to  his 
fellowmen. 

This  view  of  life  is  abundantly  illustrated  in  the  teachings  of 
Holy  Scripture.  Man  is  under  the  power  and  influence  of  sin. 
Although  made  in  the  image  of  God  and  fashioned  by  the  hand 
of  the  Almighty  and  endowed  with  spiritual  powers  and  capacities 
from  on  high,  yet  man  is  represented  as  having  lost  the  divine 
image  through  sin  and  of  having  come  under  the  power  and  con- 
demnation of  God's  holy  displeasure,  because  of  his  unbelief  and 
disobedience.  Our  first  parents  forgot  their  Maker  and  yielded  to 
the  blandishments  and  allurements  of  the  Tempter  and  thus  lost 
their  lofty  estate.  The  children  of  Israel  were  continually  tempt- 
ing the  Lord  their  God  by  forgetting  the  commandments  and 
ordinances  of  the  Almighty,  and  by  falling  into  gross  idolatry 
and  corrupt  and  vicious  personal  practices.  The  Prophets  were 
burdened,  and  sometimes  overwhelmed,  with  this  discouraging 
tendency  in  the  children  of  Israel.  A  large  proportion  of  their 
message  was  to  the  effect  that  people  should  forsake  their  idols, 
should  abandon  their  life  of  forbidden  association  with  the  heathen 


lO 

world,  should  turn  away  from  their  evil  ways,  and  should  remem- 
ber the  Lord  their  God  and  worship  Him,  and  Him  only,  in 
spirit  and  in  truth.  John  the  Baptist  began  his  mission  of  prepara- 
tion for  the  Kingdom  of  Christ  by  saying:  "Repent,  for  the 
kingdom  of  heaven  is  at  hand."  And  Jesus  himself  began  his 
ministry  by  preaching  "Repentance"  from  sin  and  obedience  to 
the  Will  of  God. 

The  insufficiency  of  the  old  life  of  legalism  and  of  self-right- 
eousness is  abundantly  emphasized  in  the  New  Testament  Scrip- 
tures, especially  by  the  teaching  and  example  of  our  Master 
Tiimself.  Nothing  less  than  a  complete  and  unconditional  sur- 
render of  the  whole  life  of  man  to  the  saving  and  life-giving  in- 
fluences of  the  Gospel  will  be  sufficient  to  meet  the  requirements 
of  the  spiritual  standards  set  by  our  Saviour.  The  law  will  not 
suffice.  The  punctilious  performance  of  external  religious  observ- 
ances cannot  and  will  not  atone  for  a  lack  of  God's  purifying  and 
energizing  spirit  in  the  heart  of  man.  There  must  be  a  new  heart, 
a  new  life,  a  reconstruction  of  the  entire  voluntary  and  emotional 
state  of  the  individual  through  the  renewing  influences  of  the 
spirit.  This  is  beautifully  taught  in  that  notable  conversation 
of  Jesus  with  Nicodemus,  in  which  Jesus  used  these  striking 
words :  "Verily,  verily,  I  say  unto  thee,  Except  a  man  be  born 
again  (that  is  from  above)  he  cannot  enter  into  the  kingdom  of 
God."  "Marvel  not  that  I  said  unto  thee,  ye  must  be  born  again." 
"The  wind  bloweth  where  it  listeth  and  thou  canst  hear  the  sound 
thereof  but  canst  not  tell  whence  it  cometh  or  whither  it  goeth,  so 
is  every  one  that  is  born  of  the  Spirit." 

Other  passages  of  New  Testament  Scripture,  both  in  the  lan- 
guage of  Jesus  and  that  of  the  Apostle  Paul,  are  equally  emphatic 
on  this  point.  Jesus  said,  in  reply  to  the  questioners  concerning 
the  Galilaeans  whose  blood  Pilot  had  mingled  with  their  sacrifices, 
that  if  they  would  not  repent,  they  would  all  likewise  perish. 
Luke  13 : 3.  So  the  Saviour  also  instructed  his  disciples,  in  reply 
to  the  question  "Who  is  greatest  in  the  kingdom  of  heaven,"  by 
placing  a  little  child  in  the  midst  of  them  and  thus  honoring  the 
simple  and  guileless  trust  of  children,  with  these  immortal  words : 
"Except  ye  be  converted  and  become  as  litttle  children,  ye  shall 


II 

not  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  heaven."  Matthew  18:3.  Paul 
and  the  other  apostles,  as  recorded  in  the  Acts  and  Epistles,  were 
preaching  "repentance  and  the  forgiveness  of  sin"  as  requisites  for 
entrance  into  the  spiritual  brotherhood  of  the  new  life ;  "For 
in  Christ  Jesus  neither  circumcision  availeth  anything,  nor  uncir- 
cumcision,  but  a  new  creature."     Galatians  6:  15. 

It  is  not  strange,  therefore,  that  the  doctrine  of  a  new  life,  the 
necessity  of  a  radical  change  of  heart  and  purpose  in  the  unre- 
generate  man,  was  made  one  of  the  fundamental  doctrines  of  all 
systems  of  Christian  theology.  It  is  a  recognized  doctrine  of  the 
Catholic  church,  though  variously  interpreted  and  applied.  It  is  a 
central  doctrine  of  all  Protestant  theologians,  though  not  equally 
emphasized  in  practice  by  all  of  them.  Some  branches  of  the  Prot- 
estant church  lay  greater  stress  upon  the  subjective  aspect  of  the 
changed  life.  Others  again  emphasize  more  strongly  the  objective 
side,  as  manifested  in  Christian  life  and  conduct.  Some  denomina- 
tions insist  more  urgently  upon  a  certain,  distinct  kind  of  emo- 
tional experience  as  an  accompaniment  and  evidence  of  conversion, 
while  others  again  emphasize  the  practical  effect  of  the  new  life 
in  demanding  the  requisite  "fruits  meet  for  repentance."  But  there 
is  absolutely  no  difference  of  opinion  among  the  various  branches 
of  the  Christian  church  as  to  the  fundamental  necessity  of  a  radi- 
cal change  of  heart  for  every  human  soul  in  conscious  sin  before  it 
can  enter  fully  into  communion  with  the  Father  and  enjoy  the 
blessed  consciousness  of  His  abiding  presence. 

And  it  is  eminently  right  and  proper  that  this  should  be  so. 
It  is  so  easy  for  man  to  build  upon  other  foundations  than  that 
which  are  laid,  namely,  Jesus  Christ  and  Him  crucified.  It  is  so 
easy  for  men  to  satisfy  themselves  with  an  outwardly  correct  life 
and  to  pay  too  little  attention  to  the  attitude  of  the  heart,  from 
which  we  are  told  really  are  "the  issues  of  life."  It  is  so  natural 
for  men  to  delude  themselves  with  the  thought  that  a  strict  ob- 
servance of  the  external  requirements  of  the  religious  life  is  all 
that  is  necessary  and,  consequently,  to  ignore  the  fundamental  dis- 
position of  the  human  will,  which  really  determines  the  rightness 
or  wrongness  of  all  our  acts.  Man  is  so  prone  to  consider  the  rigid 
observance  of  forms  and  ceremonies,  the  punctilious  performance 


12 

of  VOWS  and  sacrifices,  the  careful  observance  of  times  and 
seasons,  and  the  strict  conformity  to  the  outward  standards  of 
a  moral  life,  as  the  all-important  things  of  life  and  to  forget  the 
more  exacting  spiritual  requirements  as  expressed  by  the  Psalmist 
"The  sacrifices  of  God  are  a  broken  spirit,  a  broken  and  a  con- 
trite heart,  O  God,  thou  wilt  not  despise."  Men  are  so  likely  to 
forget  that  religion  is  not  a  thing  of  the  outward  act,  but  of  the 
heart,  not  of  confession  and  deeds  alone,  nor  even  chiefly,  but  of 
character ;  that  too  much  emphasis  cannot  be  laid  upon  the  neces- 
sity of  the  benevolent  will,  which  determines  the  quality  of  all 
our  acts  and  makes  us  either  blame-worthy  or  acceptable  in  the 
sight  of  God.  Neither  Christian  ancestry,  nor  church  member- 
ship ;  neither  private  devotions  nor  faithful  attendance  upon  public 
worship ;  neither  singing  of  Christian  hymns,  nor  engaging  in  the 
solemn  process  of  sacred  prayer;  neither  private  benevolence,  nor 
public  charity,  will  avail  anything  unless  these  spring  from  a 
heart  of  Christian  love,  sanctified  by  the  regenerating  influences 
of  the  spirit  of  God  and  wholly  and  unreservedly  given  over  to  the 
service  of  God.  As  St.  Paul  tells  us  in  Corinthians  13:  "Though 
I  speak  with  the  tongues  of  men  and  of  angels,  and  have  not  charity 
T  am  become  as  sounding  brass,  or  a  tinkling  cymbal.  And  though 
I  have  the  gift  of  prophecy,  and  understand  all  mysteries,  and  all 
knowledge;  and  though  I  have  all  faith,  so  that  I  could  remove 
mountains,  and  have  not  charity,  I  am  nothing.  And  though  I  be- 
stow all  my  goods  to  feed  the  poor,  and  though  I  give  my  body  to 
be  burned,  and  have  not  charity,  it  profiteth  me  nothing."  And  the 
charity  here  spoken  of  is  true  Christian  benevolence. 

Rev.  George  C.  Lorimer,  D.  D.,  in  his  little  treatise  on  con- 
version puts  the  same  thought  succinctly  and  strikingly  in  this 
way :  'Tt  is  not  your  baptism,  however  scriptural,  nor  your  forms, 
however  churchly,  nor  your  creed,  however  orthodox,  thafc  grants 
the  abundant  entrance  into  the  everlasting  kingdom.  God  has 
said  that  He  will  write  His  law  upon  the  heart  and  enshrine  His 
spirit  there;  that  He  will  take  away  the  heart  of  stone  and  give 
thee  a  heart  of  flesh.  The  old  man,  with  his  deeds,  is  to  be  put 
off,  and  the  new  man,  created  in  knowledge  and  holiness,  is  to  take 
his  place." 


13 


n.     The  Scriptural  Terms  Used  for  Conversion. 

What  is  the  nature  of  conversion  ?  What  is  impHed  in  a  change 
of  heart?  What  is  involved  in  the  fundamental  processes  of  re- 
pentance and  regeneration  so  indispensable  to  the  Christian  life 
and  to  genuine  Christian  character  ?  Under  what  figures  of  speech 
is  it  referred  to  in  the  Scriptures?  What  terms  are  employed  in 
designating  the  processes  and  states  involved  in  the  changed  con- 
dition of  the  moral  life?  How  does  the  word  of  God  conceive  the 
changes  and  experiences  necessary  to  obtain  entrance  into  the 
spiritual  life  through  the  gates  of  conversion  ? 

i.    Cease  to  do  Evil,  Learn  to  do  Well. 

One  of  the  simplest  conceptions  under  which  the  changed  life 
is  described  is  that  of  the  twofold  act  of  turning  away  from  the 
evil  and  of  following  after  that  which  is  good  and  true  and  noble. 
Sinners  are  urged  to  leave  their  life  of  sin  and  selfishness  and  to 
take  up  a  life  of  goodness  and  mercy,  to  forsake  their  wicked  ways 
and  to  return  to  the  Lord  their  God  from  whom  they  had  departed ; 
to  depart  from  evil  and  follow  after  that  which  is  good ;  to  aban- 
don their  evil  associations  and  their  unrighteous  manner  of  life, 
and  to  cleave  unto  the  Lord  their  God  with  all  their  strength  and  to 
keep  His  Commandments  and  observe  His  laws.  Thus,  Isaiah 
I  :  i6  and  ly :  "Wash  you,  make  you  clean ;  put  away  the  evil  of 
your  doings  from  before  mine  eyes ;  cease  to  do  evil.  Learn  to  do 
well."  And,  again,  we  have  these  notable  words  in  Isaiah  55  :  7 : 
"Let  the  wicked  forsake  his  way,  and  the  unrighteous  man  his 
thoughts ;  and  let  him  return  unto  the  Lord,  and  he  will  have 
mercy  upon  him ;  and  to  our  God,  for  he  will  abundantly  pardon," 

Christ  himself  in  that  most  touching  scene  with  the  woman 
who  was  a  sinner  and  who  was  caught  red-handed  in  the  act  of 
her  sin  and  disgrace,  after  bending  over  and  writing  with  His  finger 
in  the  sand,  thus  giving  her  accusers  an  opportunity  to  withdraw, 
looked  at  the  woman  and  asked  her:  "Woman,  where  are  those 
thine  accusers?  Hath  no  man  condemned  thee?"  "She  said,  no 
man,  Lord."     ''Jesus  said  unto  her,  neither  do  I  condemn  thee ;  go^ 


14 

and  sin  no  more."  John  8:9,  11.  The  only  request  that  our 
Lord  made  of  the  woman  was  that  she  should  turn  away  from 
her  evil  course  and  from  her  wicked  associations  and  abandon  her 
old  life  and  sin  no  more.  That,  of  course,  would  imply  that  she 
should  follow,  on  the  positive  side,  a  life  of  virtue  and  purity  as 
distinguished  from  a  life  of  sin  and  degradation. 

This  conception  of  conversion  seemingly  regards  the  change 
chiefly  on  the  external  side  and  might  lead  some  to  think  that  the 
changes  required  were  really  too  superficial  to  go  to  the  root  of 
the  matter.  It  is  evident  that  the  mere  ceasing  to  do  evil  outwardly 
would  not  be  sufficient — nor  the  learning  to  do  well  from  the 
standpoint  of  conduct  adequate  to  satisfy  the  more  fundamental 
conditions  of  a  changed  life.  But  these  terms  taken  in  their 
deeper  significance  surely  do  imply  an  absolute  change  of  heart 
and  purpose  as  the  source  of  the  changes  enjoined.  It  is  quite 
possible  that  men  may  cease  to  do  evil  in  word  and  deed  and  yet 
be  unchanged  at  heart.  But  it  is  manifestly  impossible  to  "learn 
to  do  well"  in  the  true,  spiritual  sense  of  the  term  without  the  ante- 
cedent fact  of  a  changed  attitude  of  heart  and  of  a  right  purpose 
of  life  from  which  all  good  deeds  must  flow  to  have  any  moral 
value.  If  the  wicked  truly  forsakes  his  way  and  the  unrighteous 
man  truly  forsakes  his  wicked  thoughts  and  desires  and  if  he  turns 
to  the  Lord  his  God,  in  sincerity  and  in  truth,  with  a  view  to 
pardon  and  forgiveness  and  with  an  earnest  purpose  to  do  the  will 
of  God,  then  we'  may  feel  assured  that  such  a  soul  will  truly  find 
pardon  and  peace  and  will  enter  upon  a  life  of  faith  and  trust, 
of  love  and  service. 

2.     Put  off  the  "Old  Man/^     Put  on  the  "New  Man/' 

Another  term  that  is  used  in  the  New  Testament  to  express 
the  radical  change  of  heart  involved  in  conversion  is  the  "New 
Man."  The  process  thus  designated  is  somewhat  similar  to  the 
one  just  described,  in  which  the  unconverted  man  is  enjoined  to 
abandon  his  life  of  sinfulness  and  follow  after  a  life  of  righteous- 
ness and  well-doing.  When  we  are  told  by  the  apostle  Paul  to 
"put  off  the  old  man"  with  all  his  entanglements  and  worldly 


15 

alliances,  and  to  "put  on  the  new  man"  with  all  his  lovely  attributes 
of  unselfishness  and  righteousness  and  true  holiness,  we  are  deal- 
ing with  a  double  process,  namely,  the  putting  away  of  one  kind 
or  mode  of  life  and  the  substituting  in  its  place  of  another  and 
altogether  different  and  better  kind  of  life.  The  process  involves 
the  renouncing  of  the  life  of  the  flesh  and  of  appropriating  the 
life  of  the  spirit,  which  is  the  new  man. 

The  term  "Old  Man"  for  the  unregenerate  life  and  "New  Man" 
for  the  renewed  life  is  defined  by  the  Apostle  Paul  thus :  "That 
ye  put  off  concerning  the  former  conversation  the  old  man,  which 
is  corrupt  according  to  the  deceitful  lusts ;  and  be  renewed  in  the 
spirit  of  your  mind ;  and  that  ye  put  on  the  new  man,  which 
after  God  is  created  in  righteousness  and  true  holiness."  Ephe- 
sians  4:22-24.  And  again  in  Colossians  Paul  writes:  "Seeing 
that  ye  have  put  off  the  old  man  with  his  deeds ;  and  have  put  on 
the  new  man  which  is  renewed  in  knowledge  after  the  image  of 
him  that  created  him :  where  there  is  neither  Greek  nor  Jew, 
circumcision  nor  uncircumcision,  Barbarian,  Scythian,  bond  nor 
free ;  but  Christ  is  all,  and  in  all."  Colossians  3:9-11.  In  Ezekiel 
we  have  somewhat  similar  terms  used  for  the  same  thing :  "And 
I  will  give  them  one  heart,  and  I  will  put  a  new  spirit  within  you ; 
and  I  will  take  the  stony  heart  out  of  their  flesh,  and  will  give 
them  a  heart  of  flesh,  that  they  may  walk  in  my  statutes,  and 
keep  mine  ordinances,  and  do  them.  And  they  shall  be  my  peo- 
ple, and  I  will  be  their  God."  Ezekiel  ii :  19,  20.  And  again, 
Ezekiel  18:31:  "Cast  away  from  you  all  your  transgressions, 
whereby  ye  have  transgressed ;  and  make  you  a  new  heart  and  a 
new  spirit ;  for  why  will  ye  die,  O  house  of  Israel  ?"  Once  again, 
the  idea  of  a  new  man,  as  expressed  in  the  terms  "new  heart"  and 
"new  spirit,"  is  beautifully  described  in  the  justly  celebrated  thirty- 
sixth  chapter  of  Ezekiel:  "Then  will  I  sprinkle  clean  water 
upon  you,  and  ye  shall  be  clean;  from  all  your  filthiness,  and 
from  all  your  idols,  will  I  cleanse  you.  A  new  heart  also  will  I 
give  you,  and  a  new  spirit  will  I  put  within  you ;  and  I  will  take 
away  the  stony  heart  out  of  your  flesh,  and  I  will  give  you  a  heart 
of  flesh.  And  I  will  put  my  spirit  within  you,  and  cause  you  to 
walk  in  my  statutes,  and  ye  shall  keep  my  judgments,  and  do  them. 


i6 

And  ye  shall  dwell  in  the  land  that  I  gave  to  your  fathers ;  and  ye 
shall  be  my  people,  and  I  will  be  your  God."     Ezekiel  36 :  25-28. 

The  expression  "Old  Man"  in  these  passages  is  used  for  the 
old  life  of  sin  and,  consequently,  for  the  deeds  of  the  old  life,  to 
which  the  apostle  refers  in  the  fourth  chapter  of  Ephesians  and 
also  in  the  third  chapter  of  Colossians.  The  deeds  of  the  old 
life  are  described  in  such  terms  as  these :  "Having  the  understand- 
ing darkened,"  "being  alienated  from  the  life  of  God  through 
ignorance"  and  "blindness  of  their  heart,"  being  "given  over  unto 
lasciviousness,"  having  "corrupt  communications  proceeding  out 
of  the  mouth,"  being  full  of  bitterness,  "wrath,"  "malice,"  "blas- 
phemy" and  "filthy  communications  out  of  your  mouth."  All 
these  terms  are  included  in  the  works  or  manifestations  of  the  old 
man  and  they  are  to  be  put  away.  And  contrasted  with  these,  we 
have  the  terms  that  are  used  in  connection  with  the  life  and  deeds 
of  the  "New  Man."  They  are  such  as  these  :  "Renewed  in  knowl- 
edge after  the  image  of  him  that  created  him,"  "bowels  of  mercies, 
kindness,  humbleness  of  mind,  meekness,  long-suffering;"  and, 
again,  such  terms,  "forbearing  one  another"  and  "forgiving  one 
another,  if  any  man  have  a  quarrel  against  any,"  "let  the  peace  of 
God  rule  in  your  hearts,"  "let  the  words  of  Christ  dwell  in  you 
richly,  in  all  wisdom,"  "be  renewed  in  the  spirit  of  your  mind," 
"put  on  the  new  man  which,  after  God,  is  created  in  righteousness 
and  true  holiness,"  "and  above  all  things  put  on  charity,  which  is 
the  bond  of  perfectness."  These  and  many  similar  terms  are  used 
to  express  the  spirit  and  purpose  of  the  "New  Man"  in  all  his 
varied  experiences  and  manifestations. 

It  is  very  evident,  from  these  references  to  the  works  of  the  old 
and  the  new  man  respectively,  that  more  is  involved  in  the  process 
of  "putting  off  the  old  man  and  putting  on  the  new  man"  than  a 
mere  external  change,  as  might  be  implied  by  a  superficial  con- 
sideration of  the  language  used.  The  old  life  is  not  something 
that  can  be  gotten  rid  of  as  easily  and  as  conveniently  as  a  suit 
of  clothes  is  discarded,  nor  is  the  new  life  something  that  can  be 
put  on  as  mechanically  and  as  superficially  as  a  new  garment  can 
be  donned.  As  in  the  case  of  the  expression,  "cease  to  do  evil, 
learn  to  do  well,"  more  is  required  than  to  abstain  outwardly  from 


17 

all  forbidden  acts  of  sin  and  to  practice  deeds  of  uprightness  and 
honesty,  so  more  is  implied  in  putting  off  the  old  man  than  in 
merely  abstaining  from  evil  deeds  and  practices.  And  more  is  re- 
quired in  putting  on  the  new  man  than  to  appropriate,  ready-made, 
as  it  were,  a  whole  series  of  activities  conventionally  considered 
correct  and  outwardly  conforming  to  the  requirements  of  a  morally 
upright  life.  To  be  sure,  the  putting  off  of  the  old  man  requires  the 
renunciation  of  the  deeds  of  the  old  man,  and  putting  on  the  new 
man  necessitates  the  showing  forth  the  fruits  of  the  new  man  as 
the  inevitable  outgrowth  of  the  spiritual  change.  But  the  old 
man  is  more  than  deeds,  so  the  new  man  is  more  than  a  morally 
correct  outward  life.  Both  the  old  man  and  new  man  respec- 
tively grow  out  of  a  disposition  of  the  heart.  The  deeds  of  the 
old  man  or  of  the  new  man  respectively  are  only  the  outward 
expressions  of  this  spiritual  attitude.  A  benevolent  attitude  of  the 
heart  makes  the  actions  which  spring  therefrom  benevolent  acts, 
that  is,  acts  of  love  and  of  mercy,  of  goodness  and  truth.  And 
all  this  deeper  and  more  fundamental  conception  of  what  is  in- 
volved in  the  putting  ofif  the  old  man  and  putting  on  the  new  man 
is  not  only  implied  in  the  words  of  the  apostle,  but  is  clearly  ex- 
pressed in  many  of  the  terms  used.  This  is  particularly  true  of  the 
positive  side  of  the  change  required.  It  would  manifestly  be 
impossible  for  the  new  man  to  show  deeds  of  mercy,  kindness, 
humbleness  of  mind,  meekness  and  love  unless  they  originated  in 
a  benevolent  disposition  of  the  heart,  in  a  right  attitude  of  the 
will ;  in  other  words,  in  a  new  heart  and  a  new  spirit.  No  man 
can  be  truly  humble  unless  he  has  the  spirit  of  Christ.  Neither 
can  any  man  be  truly  merciful  or  forgiving  or  charitable  or  un- 
selfish unless  he  has  the  selfsame  spirit.  And  all  this  deeper  con- 
ception involved  in  the  change  under  discussion  is  clearly  expressed 
by  the  apostle  in  such  terms  as  these:  "Put  on  the  new  man 
which,  after  God,  is  created  in  righteousness  and  true  holiness." 
"Put  on  the  new  man  which  is  renewed  in  knowledge  after  the 
image  of  him  that  created  him."  And,  again,  "Above  all  these 
things,  put  on  charity,  which  is  the  bond  of  perfectness.  And  let 
the  peace  of  God  rule  in  your  hearts,  to  the  which  also  ye  are  called 
in  one  body;  and  be  ye  thankful.     Let  the  word  of  Christ  dwell 


i8 

in  you  richly  in  all  wisdom ;  teaching  and  admonishing  one  another 
in  psalms  and  hymns  and  spiritual  songs,  singing  with  grace  in 
your  hearts  to  the  Lord.  And  whatsoever  ye  do  in  word  or  deed, 
do  all  in  the  name  of  the  Lord  Jesus,  giving  thanks  to  God  and 
the  Father  by  him,"     Colossians  3 :  15-17. 

It  is  in  the  same  line  of  thought  and  by  a  similar  figure  of 
speech  that  Paul  tells  the  Romans  to  "put  on  the  armour  of 
light,"  and  again,  to  "put  on  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,"  In  the 
celebrated  chapter  on  Immortality,  Paul  tells  the  Corinthians,  "this 
corruptible  must  put  on  incorruption,  and  this  mortal  must  put  on 
immortality."  To  put  off  the  old  man,  therefore,  means  not  only 
to  put  away  the  deeds  of  the  old  man,  but  also  all  the  desires  and 
impulses,  the  motives  and  disposition  of  the  heart  from  which  these 
flow.  And  to  put  on  the  new  man  means  not  only  to  show  forth 
the  deeds  of  the  new  man,  as  described  by  the  Apostle  Paul,  but 
it  means  to  really  put  on  the  spirit  of  the  Christ  himself, 
from  whom  our  acts  must  derive  their  state  of  rightness,  and  to 
adopt  His  life  and  His  teaching  as  the  rule  of  our  lives,  and  to 
enthrone  in  our  moral  kingdom  the  spirit  and  mind  of  the  Master 
himself  as  the  all-controlling  and  all-determining  attitude  of  our 
hearts. 

3.     Crucified  with  Christ.     Risen  with  Him, 

Another  term  which  is  frequently  used  for  the  act  of  regenera- 
tion and  which  is  very  suggestive  is,  "to  be  crucified  with  Christ" 
unto  the  world,  and  to  "rise  with  Him"  in  the  spirit.  The  figure 
of  the  cross  is  here  used  as  the  symbolic  process  to  which  the 
struggling  soul  is  subjected.  The  cross  is  the  symbol  of  suffering, 
the  ensign  of  tragedy,  the  expression  of  abject  humiliation,  as  well 
as  of  surpassing  glory  and  victory  in  the  supreme  crisis  of  the  life 
of  Jesus.  It  was  preceded  by  a  bitter  agony  in  struggle,  by  drops 
of  blood,  by  heaviness  of  soul  and  by  crushing  burdens  silently 
borne.  It  was  followed  by  the  empty  grave,  by  the  spiritualized 
body,  by  the  glorified  spirit  emancipated  from  the  limitations  of  its 
incarnate  life,  by  the  triumphant  ascension  into  heaven.  In  like 
manner,  the  crucifixion  has  become  the  symbolic  expression  of  the 


19 

renewing-  and  regenerative  experiences  of  the  human  soul  in  conver- 
sion. Notice  the  expression  used  by  the  apostle  in  Romans  6:6: 
"Knowing  this,  that  our  old  man  is  crucified  with  him,  that 
the  body  of  sin  might  be  destroyed,  that  henceforth  we  should 
not  serve  sin."  And,  again,  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Galatians, 
Paul  uses  these  oft-quoted  words:  "I  am  crucified  with 
Christ;  nevertheless  I  live;  yet  not  I,  but  Christ  liveth  in  me; 
and  the  life  which  I  now  live  in  the  flesh,  I  live  by  the  faith 
of  the  Son  of  God,  who  loved  me,  and  gave  himself  for  me." 
Galatians  2 :  20.  The  same  expressions  are  also  used  in  Gal- 
atians 5 :  24,  when  Paul  says :  "And  they  that  are  Christ's 
have  crucified  the  flesh  with  the  aflfections  and  lusts."  And 
once  again,  in  Galatians  6:14,  15,  the  apostle  says:  "But 
God  forbid  that  I  should  glory,  save  in  the  cross  of  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  by  whom  the  world  is  crucified  unto  me,  and  I  unto 
the  world.  For  in  Christ  Jesus  neither  circumcision  availeth  any- 
thing, nor  uncircumcision,  but  a  new  creature." 

And  so  the  cross  stands  for  the  supreme  moral  crisis  of  regen- 
eration in  a  most  suggestive  manner.  The  old  man,  with  his  lusts 
and  desires,  is  to  be  crucified,  to  suffer  anguish,  sorrow  and  pain 
in  the  act  of  death.  The  new  man  is  to  come  forth  out  of  the 
grave  of  its  crucified  body,  from  the  limitations  and  entangled  alli- 
ances of  the  life  of  the  flesh,  with  larger  powers,  greater  spiritual 
capacity,  and  infinitely  greater  power  for  Christian  service.  The 
crucifixion  is  the  crisis  which  separates  the  old  life  from  the  new 
life.  It  is  the  transforming  and  transfiguring  process.  To  be  cruci- 
fied with  Christ,  therefore,  means,  figuratively  speaking,  to  be 
crushed  with  sorrow  and  defeat,  to  suffer  pain  and  anguish,  to  be 
nailed  as  to  the  old  life  on  the  cross,  and  to  die.  To  be  risen  with 
Christ  means  to  come  forth  out  of  the  grave,  transfigured  and  regen- 
erated, into  the  fuller  and  purer  and  ampler  life  of  the  spirit.  For 
the  world  to  be  "crucified  unto  me"  and  "I  unto  the  world,"  as 
Paul  puts  it,  means  that  the  spirit  of  the  world,  which  is  best 
typified  by  the  flesh,  shall  pass  through  the  selfsame  process  of 
suffering,  anguish  and  death  into  the  grave,  so  that  the  trans- 
formed and  renewed  life  of  the  new  man  may  come  forth  and  live. 
For  the  world  to  be  crucified  unto  me  means  that  the  spirit  and 


20 

life  of  the  world  shall  be  dead  unto  me,  shall  have  no  disturb- 
ing influence  over  me,  shall  have  no  existence  for  me.  That  I 
shall  be  crucified  unto  the  world  means  that  I  shall  be  dead  unto 
the  spirit  and  life  of  the  world,  that  the  world  shall  not  exist  for 
me,  so  far  as  its  baneful  influence  upon  me  is  concerned.  I  am 
dead  to  the  world  that  I  may  live  unto  God  and  His  spirit.  The 
world  is  dead  unto  me  that  the  spirit  of  God  may  live  in  me. 
The  spirit  of  the  world  and  the  spirit  of  God  cannot  live  together 
in  me  side  by  side.  The  one  must  be  dead  to  the  other.  Or,  as 
Paul  expresses  it :  'T  am  crucified  with  Christ,  nevertheless  I 
live,  yet  not  I,  but  Christ  liveth  in  me." 

The  flesh  and  the  spirit  are  here  contrasted.  The  flesh  refers 
to  the  "Old  Man"  and  typifies  the  old  life  of  sin.  The  spirit 
refers  to  the  "New  Man"  and  typifies  the  new  life  of  the  spirit, 
"For  they  that  are  after  the  flesh  do  mind  the  things  of  the 
flesh ;  but  they  that  are  after  the  Spirit  the  things  of  the  Spirit." 
Romans  8 :  5.  The  flesh  and  the  spirit  are  at  enmity,  the  one  sig- 
nifying death,  the  other  life,  "For  if  ye  live  after  the  flesh,  ye  shall 
die ;  but  if  ye  through  the  Spirit  do  mortify  the  deeds  of  the  body, 
ye  shall  live."  Romans  8 :  13.  "For  to  be  carnally  minded  is 
death;  but  to  be  spiritually  minded  is  life  and  peace."  "So  then 
they  that  are  in  the  flesh  cannot  please  God."  "Because  the 
carnal  mind  is  enmity  against  God."  Romans  8:6,  7.  And  the 
fruits  of  the  flesh  and  of  the  spirit  are  evident  and  testify  to  the 
perpetual  and  irreconcilable  conflict  between  the  two.  "For  the 
flesh  liisteth  against  the  Spirit,  and  the  Spirit  against  the  flesh; 
and  these  are  contrary  the  one  to  the  other."  Galatians  5:17. 
The  works  or  the  fruits  of  the  flesh  are  described  by  Paul  as 
follows :  "Now  the  works  of  the  flesh  are  manifest^  which  are 
these :  Adultery,  fornication,  uncleanness,  lasciviousness,  idolatry, 
witchcraft,  hatred,  variance,  emulations,  wrath,  strife,  seditions, 
heresies,  envyings,  murders,  drunkenness,  revellings,  and  such 
like;  of  the  which  I  tell  you  before,  as  I  have  also  told  you  in 
times  past,  that  they  which  do  such  things  shall  not  inherit  the 
kingdom  of  God."  Then,  again,  the  fruits  of  the  spirit  are  also 
described  by  Paul,  as  follows :  "But  the  fruit  of  the  spirit  is  love, 
joy,  peace,  longsufifering,  gentleness,  goodness,  faith,  meekness, 


21 

temperance ;  against  such  there  is  no  law."  Galatians  5 :  19-23. 
In  Galatians  6:7,  8,  Paul  writes  these  impressive  words  as 
to  the  radical  difference  between  the  fruits  of  the  flesh  and  the 
fruits  of  the  spirit :  "Be  not  deceived ;  God  is  not  mocked ;  for 
whatsoever  a  man  soweth,  that  shall  he  also  reap.  For  he  that 
soweth  to  his  flesh  shall  of  the  flesh  reap  corruption ;  but  he  that 
soweth  to  the  Spirit  shall  of  the  Spirit  reap  life  everlasting." 

It  appears,  therefore,  that  this  conception  of  regeneration  as- 
sumes some  sort  of  relationship  between  the  life  of  the  flesh  and 
the  life  of  the  spirit.  The  two  are  not  entirely  and  absolutely 
distinct,  in  that  they  have  no  relation  to  each  other  or  no  refer- 
ence to  a  common  origin.  As  in  the  case  of  Jesus,  the  divine  life 
of  the  risen  Christ  was  not  different  in  quality  from  the  divine 
life  of  the  incarnate  Christ,  crowded  and  cramped  and  impris- 
oned into  the  limitations  of  the  human  body  before  the  crucifixion. 
The  crucifixion  was  not  only  a  dying  process,  according  to  the 
physical  state  of  his  incarnate  life,  but  it  was  also  and  chiefly  a 
process  by  which  the  earth-bound  and  humanity-limited  life  of 
the  cross  became  once  more  the  unconditioned  and  unhampered  life 
of  the  spirit.  In  like  manner,  the  spiritual  life  of  the  new  birth 
has  its  roots  and  germs  in  the  life  of  the  flesh.  What  is  earthly, 
perishable,  sinful,  carnal,  is  crucified  and  must  die;  but  out  of 
the  grave  of  the  old  crucified  life  of  the  flesh  comes  forth  the  germ 
of  the  new  life,  as  the  germ  of  the  new!  plant  comes  forth  out  of 
the  death  and  corruption  of  the  old  grain  of  wheat.  Without 
death,  as  it  were,  there  can  be  no  life.  "Except  a  corn  of  wheat 
fall  into  the  ground  and  die,  it  abideth  alone;  but  if  it  die,  it 
bringeth  forth  much  fruit." 

The  same  intimate  connection  of  the  new  life  with  the  old  life 
is  suggested  in  Isaiah,  when  he  writes :  "Come  now,  and  let  us 
reason  together,  saith  the  Lord :  though  your  sins  be  as  scarlet, 
they  shall  be  as  white  as  snow :  though  they  be  red  like  crimson, 
they  shall  be  as  wool."  Isaiah  i :  18.  This  sounds  somewhat 
strange.  Is  it  possible  that  sin  can  be  turned  to  righteousness, 
that  the  scarlet  of  the  sinful  life  can  be  converted  into  the  white 
purity  of  the  life  of  righteousness?  How  can  these  things  be? 
Can    sin    be    anything   but    sin  ?     Can    there    be    any    connection 


22 

between  life  and  death,  between  light  and  darkness,  between  right- 
eousness and  sin?  In  ordinary  language  and  in  much  of  the 
biblical  phraseology  the  thought  is  conveyed  that  sin  and  right- 
eousness have  no  connection  at  all  with  each  other  and  no  rela- 
tion to  each  other  except  that  of  enmity ;  and  this  of  course  is 
true  in  the  sense  that  all  sin  must  die.  The  old  life  of  the 
flesh  must  perish,  and  the  old  man  must  be  crucified.  And  yet, 
considered  more  profoundly  and  more  fundamentally,  do  not 
sin  and  righteousness  flow  from  the  same  original  source?  Do 
they  not  both  have  their  root  and  origin  in  the  common  impulses 
and  passions,  desires  and  affections  of  our  human  natures?  Is  it 
not,  after  all,  a  matter  of  will  and  a  disposition  of  the  heart  whether 
our  native  instincts  and  impulses,  which  are  really  the  motive 
forces  of  our  lives,  shall  lead  us  to  life  or  to  death,  shall  bring 
forth  acts  of  sin  and  selfishness  or  deeds  of  love  and  purity? 
For  instance,  the  sin  of  covetousness  has  its  root  in  the  natural, 
useful  impulse  of  the  soul  to  acquire,  to  possess ;  and  this  impulse 
is  surely  of  the  utmost  importance  in  the  struggle  for  existence; 
but  it  needs  to  be  regulated  and  controlled,  and  if  turned  to  use- 
ful and  beneficent  directions  serves  a  most  valuable  purpose.  We 
are  to  seek  and  to  seek  earnestly,  but  only  the  best  things.  We 
are  to  desire  things  and  to  acquire  them,  not  for  selfish 
enjoyment,  but  for  wise  and  benevolent  purposes.  The  same  is 
true  of  the  sin  of  gluttony.  The  natural  desire  for  food  is  a 
normal  and  necessary  one  and,  discreetly  and  temperately  in- 
dulged, serves  a  very  useful  purpose.  A  natural,  instinctive  crav- 
ing for  physical  sustenance  may,  therefore,  lead  us  to  an  act  of 
sin  in  gluttony  or  to  an  act  of  usefulness  and  virtue  in  the 
moderate  enjoyment  of  nourishment,  depending  altogether  upon 
the  controlling  and  directing  purpose  back  of  it.  And  is  not  this 
practically  true  of  all  our  sins?  Is  it  not  possible  to  convert  the 
crude  and  fundamental  impulses,  desires  and  passions  of  our 
natures,  out  of  which  so  many  of  our  sins  of  self-indulgence  and 
self-gratification  spring,  because  of  a  lack  of  temperate  control, 
to  the  higher  and  more  unselfish  uses  of  life  ?  Is  it  not  true,  there- 
fore, that  the  fundamental  impelling  and  propelling  forces  of 
our  natures,  our  instincts  and  impulses,  our  passions  and  desires, 


23 

which  are  not  only  innocent  in  themselves,  but  absolutely  essen- 
tial to  life  and  self-preservation,  may  be  harnessed  and  wisely 
directed  by  the  steadying  hand  of  a  benevolent  will  and  made  to 
serve  the  highest  and  most  beneficent  uses  of  life? 

It  is  well  to  distinguish,  therefore,  between  sin  and  virtue,  be- 
tween selfishness  and  unselfishness,  as  not  two  entirely  different 
manifestations  as  to  their  source,  but  as  having  really  a  common 
origin  in  the  affective  side  of  our  nature.  To  control,  there- 
fore, our  manifold  desires,  to  subject  our  impulses  and  passions 
to  the  sway  of  reason,  to  be  guided  in  our  affections  and  longings 
by  the  law  of  love  and  mercy,  to  turn  these  elemental  forces 
of  our  natures  to  the  highest  and  noblest  uses  of  personal,  social 
and  religious  service ;  this  is  the  great  problem  of  life,  this  is  the 
supreme  requirement  of  the  divided,  struggling  self  for  a  life 
of  true  benevolence  and  Christian  charity. 

4.     The** New  Birth/'    Bom  from  Above. 

One  of  the  most  suggestive  expressions  found  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment for  the  change  involved  in  true  conversion  from  a  state  of 
conscious  sin  is  the  "New  Birth."  There  is  a  natural  birth,  so 
there  is  a  spiritual  birth.  The  natural  man  has  the  beginning 
of  his  physical  life  in  the  natural  birth.  The  spiritual  man  has  his 
origin  and  beginning  in  the  spiritual  birth.  The  natural  phe- 
nomenon of  physical  birth  is  the  fact  seized  upon  to  suggest  some  of 
the  most  fundamental  and  most  radical  and  most  mysterious  ex- 
periences in  the  life  of  the  human  soul. 

The  newness  of  this  new  life  is  one  of  the  things  emphasized. 
Jesus  said  to  Nicodemus :  "Verily,  verily,  I  say  unto  you,  ex- 
cept a  man  be  born  again,  he  cannot  see  the  kingdom  of 
God."  Nicodemus  saith :  "How  can  a  man  be  born  when  he  is 
old?"  showing  he  mistook  the  force  of  our  Saviour's  remarks 
entirely.  Jesus  said  in  reply:  "Verily,  verily  I  say  unto  thee, 
except  a  man  be  born  of  water  and  of  the  spirit,  he  cannot 
enter  into  the  kingdom  of  God.  That  which  is  born  of  the  flesh 
is  flesh,  and  that  which  is  born  of  the  spirit  is  spirit."  "Marvel 
not  that  I  said  unto  thee,  ye  must  be  born  again."     John  3 :  5-7. 


24 

The  same  term  is  used  by  Peter :  "Being  born  again,  not  of  cor- 
ruptible seed,  but  of  incorruptible,  by  the  word  of  God,  which 
liveth  and  abideth  forever."  I  Peter  i :  23.  And,  again  :  "Who 
hath  begotten  us  again  to  a  lively  hope  by  the  resurrection  of 
Jesus  Christ  from  the  dead."  I  Peter  i  :  3.  Just  as  in  the  physical 
birth  a  new  life  is  brought  into  the  world,  so  in  the  spiritual  birth 
there  are  new  moral  and  spiritual  powers  brought  into  life  and 
activity.  It  is  in  line  with  the  expression,  "Dead  in  trespasses 
and  sins,"  "dead  to  sin,"  "dead  to  the  law,"  so  frequently  used  in 
the  Epistles.  The  soul  that  is  dead  in  trespasses  and  sins  needs 
a  new  life,  a  spiritual  birth.  As  Paul  says :  "And  you  hath  he 
quickened,  who  were  dead  in  trespasses  and  sins."  Ephesians 
2:1.  And  again:  "And  you  being  dead  in  your  sins  and  the 
uncircumcision  of  your  flesh,  hath  he  quickened  (or  made  alive)." 
Colossians  2:  13.  The  newness  of  the  spiritual  life,  though  not 
under  the  same  figure,  is  emphasized  by  Paul  in  II  Cor- 
inthians :  "Therefore  if  any  man  be  in  Christ,  he  is  a  new  crea- 
ture ;  old  things  are  passed  away ;  behold,  all  things  are  become 
new."  II  Corinthians  5:17.  Also  in  Galatians  6:15,  "For 
in  Christ  Jesus  neither  circumcision  availeth  anything,  nor  uncir- 
cumcision, but  a  new  creature."  The  spiritual  life  is  a  new  life 
and  calls  for  new  powers  and  activities,  new  associations  and 
new  interests.  The  newness  of  the  spiritual  life  is  everywhere 
emphasized  and  made  important. 

The  new  life  is  also  spoken  of  as  "coming  from  above."  It 
is  a  creation  of  the  spirit  of  God  in  its  operations  upon  the  human 
soul.  As  physical  life  is  necessary  to  beget  physical  life,  so  spir- 
itual life  is  necessary  to  beget  spiritual  life.  God  is  the  source 
of  all  spiritual  life.  Through  faith  in  Him  and  through  the  vital- 
izing operations  of  His  spirit  upon  our  spirits,  either  creating  new 
powers  or  awakening  to  life  the  innate  spiritual  capacities  of  the 
soul,  we  are  born  of  God  and  enter  into  the  life  of  the  New 
Birth.  "Which  were  bom  not  of  blood,  nor  of  the  will  of  the 
flesh,  nor  of  the  will  of  man,  but  of  God,"  as  we  find  it  in  John 
I  :i3.  "Beloved,  let  us  love  one  another,  for  love  is  of  God. 
And  every  one  that  loveth  is  born  of  God."  I  John  4 :  7. 

This  new  spiritual  life  is  begotten  not  only  by  contact  of  the 


25 

divine  life  with  the  human  Hfe  through  direct  and  immediate 
touch,  it  may  also  be  brought  forth  by  the  contact  of  the  spiritual 
life  of  one  soul  with  the  spiritual  life  of  another  soul.  Like 
begets  like.  Spirit  begets  spirit.  Paul  says  in  Philemon  con- 
cerning Onesimus  :  "Whom  I  have  begotten  in  my  bonds."  Also 
in  writing  to  the  Corinthians,  he  says :  "For  though  ye  have  ten 
thousand  instructors  in  Christ,  yet  have  ye  not  many  fathers :  for 
in  Christ  Jesus  I  have  begotten  you  through  the  gospel."  I  Co- 
rinthians 4:  15.  This  makes  the  work  of  a  truly  spiritual  man  a 
life-giving  and  a  spiritually  creative  work.  What  a  blessed  thing 
it  is  that  a  spirit-filled  life  may  convey  of  its  fullness  to  another 
soul.  What  a  glorious  opportunity  that  he  whom  God  has 
touched  from  above  with  His  spirit  may  beget  others,  as  Paul  did, 
unto  a  lively  hope  in  Jesus  Christ  through  the  Gospels. 

Nicodemus  in  his  amazement  at  the  greatness  and  vastness  of 
the  idea  of  the  new  birth  here  announced  said :  "How  can  these 
things  be?"  And  well  he  might  have  asked  that  question,  for 
all  these  spiritual  processes  are  full  of  mystery  and  difficult  of 
comprehension.  But  the  facts  of  the  natural  life  and  of  the 
natural  birth  are  just  as  wonderful  and  just  as  difficult  of  com- 
prehension. Life  in  any  and  in  all  of  its  forms  is  a  mysterious 
and  incomprehensible  something,  whose  manifestations  we  can 
observe,  whose  growth  and  decay  we  can  discern,  but  whose  real 
essence  and  nature  we  must  always  remain  ignorant  of.  The 
spiritual  life  is  no  exception.  It  is  no  more  and  no  less  wonder- 
ful than  life  in  any  of  its  diverse  forms.  As  Drummond  tells 
us  in  his  "Natural  Law  in  the  Spiritual  World":  "Even  science 
has  its  mysteries,  none  more  inscrutable  than  around  the  science  of 
Life.  We  have  seen  that  the  spiritual  life  is  an  endowment 
from  the  spiritual  world  and  that  the  Living  Spirit  of  Christ 
dwells  in  the  Christian.  The  breath  of  God  blowing  where  it 
listeth,  touches  with  its  mystery  of  life  the  dead  souls  of 
men,  bears  them  across  the  bridgeless  gulf  between  the  natural  and 
the  spiritual,  between  the  spiritually  inorganic  and  the  spiritually 
organic,  endows  them  with  its  own  high  qualities  and  develops 
within  them  these  new  and  secret  faculties,  by  which  those  who 
are  born  again  are  said  to  see  the  Kingdom  of  God.      But  what 


26 

more  does  science  know  of  life?  Nothing.  It  knows  nothing 
further  about  its  origin  in  detail.  It  knows  nothing  about  its  ulti- 
mate nature.  It  cannot  ever  define  it.  Where  there  is  excep- 
tional mystery  in  the  spiritual  world  it  will  generally  be  found 
that  there  is  a  corresponding  mystery  in  the  natural  world." 

Two  facts  concerning  the  spiritual  life  are  evident  and  they 
are  very  precious,  namely,  that  we  can  experience  and  observe 
its  presence  and  that  we  can  assist  in  its  promulgation.  As  in  the 
natural  world,  the  evidences  of  life  and  growth  are  manifest 
everywhere.  We  cannot  be  mistaken  about  that.  So  in  the  spir- 
itual life.  Jesus  said  to  Nicodemus :  "The  wind  bloweth  where  it 
listeth  and  thou  hearest  the  sound  thereof  but  canst  not  tell 
whence  it  cometh  or  whither  it  goeth :  so  is  every  one  that  is  born 
of  the  Spirit."  The  movements  and  operations  of  the  spirit  may 
not  be  discernible  to  the  natural  eye,  but  the  presence  of  the 
spirit  may  be  experienced  in  the  heart  and  observed  in  the  lives 
of  others.  The  movements  of  the  spirit  are  not  limited  by  set 
bounds  nor  circumscribed  by  arbitrary  conditions.  It  does  not 
reveal  itself  alike  to  all  souls.  Its  manner  of  operation  is  varied. 
As  in  the  case  of  the  wind,  it  may  come  with  mighty  power 
and  shake  the  towering  giants  of  the  forests  to  the  very  roots, 
or  it  may  come  as  the  evening  zephyrs  come,  so  quietly,  so 
calmly  and  so  gently,  that  its  refreshing  coolness  will  be  felt  as  a 
gladsome  presence  without  sign  or  token  of  excitement. 

And  even  if  the  operation  of  the  spirit  upon  our  souls  in  the 
new  birth  should,  perchance,  be  so  faint  in  its  presence  and  so 
gentle  in  its  influence  as  to  preclude,  seemingly,  all  thought  of 
supernatural  interference  and  divine  presence  in  the  process,  shall 
we,  on  this  account,  call  its  reality  into  question  or  doubt  its 
presence  altogether?  "By  their  fruits  ye  shall  know  them."  If 
the  real  fruits  of  the  new  birth  are  present,  surely  the  spirit 
itself  must  be  present  too.  If  we  know  ourselves  as  belonging 
to  God,  by  a  voluntary  and  complete  surrender  to  His  influence, 
if  we  have  perceived  the  gracious  operations  of  God's  spirit  upon 
our  hearts  in  a  warmer  love  for  His  word  and  in  a  deeper  interest 
in  His  kingdom,  if  we  are  conscious  of  a  strong  and  unfaltering 
trust  in  God's  eternal  goodness  and  infinite  mercy  for  forgiveness 


27 

of  sin  and  for  help  in  the  hfe  that  now  is,  and  for  hope  and 
confidence  in  the  life  that  is  to  come,  then  we  may  rest  con- 
tented. The  Divine  Presence  is  in  all  gracious  operations  of  the 
spirit  upon  the  soul,  whether  with  power  or  with  gentleness  and 
peace.  Over  the  portals  of  St.  Paul's  Cathedral  in  London  are 
the  words  of  the  famous  epitaph  of  Sir  Christopher  Wren,  the 
architect  of  that  massive  temple  of  God :  "If  you  are  looking 
for  his  monument,  look  about  you."  So  we  may  say,  if  you 
ask,  where  is  the  Divine  Hand  manifested  in  a  life  whose  funda- 
mental preference  is  Christlike,  "Look  about  you."  The  evi- 
dence of  divine  workmanship  and  the  assurance  of  divine 
presence  is  on  every  hand.  God  is  love  and  he  who  dwells  in  love 
dwells  in  God. 

Whether  we  regard  the  New  Birth  as  an  entirely  new  creation 
begotten  by  the  spirit  of  God  in  the  moral  life  of  man,  or  whether 
we  consider  the  New  Birth  as  an  awakening  and  a  breaking  forth 
into  fuller  life  of  the  spiritual  nature  of  man,  by  the  vitalizing 
operations  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  is  immaterial.  As  long  as  men  are 
not  agreed  as  to  the  origin  of  the  human  soul  in  the  natural 
birth,  some  holding  to  the  theory  of  transmission  of  life  and  some 
to  that  of  a  new  creation,  so  long  we  may  consider  the  spiritual 
phase  of  this  question  in  the  same  light.  The  older  theologians 
have  usually  held  to  the  theory  that  the  spiritual  life  in  man  is 
really  created  in  the  New  Birth,  that  the  spiritual  life  had  really 
no  existence  in  man  until  it  was  begotten  in  the  soul  by  the 
power  of  the  Holy  Spirit  in  conversion.  Thus  Drummond 
stoutly  maintains  this  view  by  quoting  the  words  of  the  Saviour  as 
proof:  He  that  "hath  the  Son  hath  life  and  he  that  hath  not 
the  Son  hath  not  life."  Others  again  maintain  that  every  soul 
has  spiritual  capacities  at  birth,  which  develop  with  the  other 
powers  of  the  soul,  and  through  the  influence  of  the  Holy  Spirit 
are  brought  into  full  consciousness  at  a  certain  period  in  the 
soul's  growth  and  development,  and  that  this  awakening  of  the 
new-bom  powers  of  the  soul  to  its  full  conscious  existence  consti- 
tutes the  New  Birth.  Be  that  as  it  may.  To  all  intents  and  pur- 
poses, the  full  conscious  power  of  the  spiritual  life  has  its  origin 
and  beginning  in  the  regenerative  experiences  of  conversion  or 


28 

in  the  soul's  conscious  awakening  through  gradual  growth  and 
development  to  new  spiritual  powers  and  capacities.  And  what 
is  a  most  striking  and  impressive  fact,  the  awakened  soul  under 
the  influence  of  the  spirit  may  be  the  instrument  of  awakening 
other  souls  into  full  consciousness'  of  divine  power,  and  thus  in  a 
sense  be  the  bearers  or  creators  of  spiritual  life  in  others.  If  Paul 
could  say  of  Onesimus,  "I  have  begotten  you  through  the  Gospel," 
and  of  the  Corinthians,  "For  in  Jesus  Christ  I  have  begotten 
you  through  the  Gospel,"  then  surely  our  mission  is  no  less  fruitful 
of  life-creative  influences,  and  no  less  potent  with  spirit-awaken- 
ing powers,  provided  we  allow  ourselves  to  be  used  as  instruments 
of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  through  the  word  of  the  living  truth, 
to  bring  spiritual  life  and  health  to  a  dead  and  dying  world. 
This  is  indeed  a  glorious  mission. 

The  Evangelist  Torrey  describes  the  process  of  the  New  Birth 
as  follows :  "In  the  New  Birth,  the  Word  of  God  is  the  seed ; 
the  human  heart  is  the  soil ;  the  preacher  of  the  word  is  the  sower, 
and  drops  the  seed  into  the  soil.  God  by  his  spirit  opens  the 
heart  to  receive  the  seed ;  the  hearer  believes.  The  spirit  quickens 
the  seed  into  life  in  the  receptive  heart ;  the  new  divine  nature 
springs  up  out  of  the  divine  Word ;  the  believer  is  born  again, 
created  anew,  made  alive,  passed  out  of  death  into  life." 

5.     The  Prodig-al  Son.     A  Typical  Case  of  Sin  and  Repentance* 

We  now  come  to  a  typical  case  of  sin  and  redemption.  The 
story  of  the  Prodigal  Son  is  a  story  of  simple  human  life  and 
also  of  divine  love  and  compassion.  In  the  terms  for  conver- 
sion previously  considered,  no  account  has  been  taken  of  God's  part 
in  the  changes  brought  about.  God's  love  and  God's  forgive- 
ness were  not  considered.  Emphasis  was  intentionally  placed 
upon  the  sinner's  part  in  the  transaction.  The  divine  willing- 
I  ness  to  forgive  sin  and  to  forgive  the  sinner  was  merely  assumed 
as  a  matter  which  needed  no  proof. 

Neither  was  anything  said  of  the  origin  of  sin  nor  of  the 
influences  and  circumstances  which  usually  lead  to  sin  and  guilt. 
The  fact  of  sin  was  assumed.     The  universal  existence  of  moral 


29 

disorder  was  recog^nized  as  something  which  needed  attention  and 
which  called  for  serious  consideration.  Conversion  was,  there- 
fore, considered  from  the  sinner's  standpoint  as  a  turning  away 
from  evil  to  the  good  or  as  putting  off  the  old  man  and  putting 
on  the  new  man,  a  crucifying  the  old  life,  'with  its  consequent 
renewal  of  the  new  life,  and  as  a  New  Birth  or  a  New  Life 
with  its  attendant  consequences.  These  are  the  essential  things, 
because  they  affect  the  sinner  himself  and  because  without  these 
subjective  changes,  there  can  be  no  real  conversion.  As  Prof. 
Coe  says  in  his  "Religion  of  a  Mature  Mind" :  "Conversion  is 
the  act  of  the  sinner  himself.  No  one  can  doubt  this  who  reads 
the  New  Testament  in  the  Greek.  Whoever  turns  away  from  a 
life  of  sin  to  a  life  of  obedience  to  Christian  principle  is  a  con- 
verted man.  Saying  this  does  not  deny,  but  merely  leaves  out  of 
consideration,  the  part  that  God  plays  in  cooperation  with  the 
repentant  sinner.  It  merely  insists  upon  the  plain  fact  that  to 
be  converted  is  to  adopt  the  Christian  principle  of  life,  and  that 
this  is  an  act  of  the  sinner's  own  will,  and  that  his  status  in  the 
kingdom  can,  therefore,  be  determined  by  what  he  chooses  to  be 
and  to  do." 

In  the  parable  of  the  Prodigal  Son,  however,  which  has  been 
called  the  "Pearl"  and  "Crown"  of  all  the  parables,  the  various 
elements  that  enter  into  the  processes  of  sin,  remorse,  repentance, 
forgiveness  and  restoration  are  given  with  an  unerring  hand  and 
with  a  vivid  touch  of  reality.  This  parable  shows  very  vividly 
and  impressively  the  course  of  sin  and  the  necessary  steps  of 
conversion  on  the  sinner's  side.  But  it  also  shows,  as  very  few 
passages  of  Scripture,  the  supreme  and  all-important  part  of  God 
in  the  sinner's  regeneration  and  restoration.  The  parable  is  an 
epitome  of  human  sin  and  of  divine  love.  No  touch  is  omitted. 
The  picture  is  complete.  The  Prodigal's  sin  and  alienation 
from  his  father,  his  life  of  self-indulgence  and  debauchery  "in 
a  far  country,"  the  coming  of  the  prodigal  to  himself  and  the 
full  realization  of  his  lost  and  pitiful  condition,  the  firm  resolu- 
tion on  his  part  to  return  to  his  father  and  throw  himself  upon 
the  father's  mercy  and  forgiveness,  the  son's  welcome  recep- 
tion by  his  father  and  his  complete  restoration  and  forgiveness, 


30 

all  these  steps  in  the  prodigal's  sin,  redemption  and  salvation 
are  portrayed  with  a  simplicity  but  with  a  directness  and  an 
impressiveness  which  go  straight  to  the  heart.  The  prodigal  is 
a  type  and  hence  represents  hosts  of  others  in  their  experiences 
of  sin  and  salvation.  And  because  the  prodigal  is  a  type  of 
thousands  of  other  wayward  sons,  and  because  such  numbers  of 
human  souls  have  followed  in  the  prodigal's  footsteps  and  have 
tasted,  with  the  prodigal,  the  cup  of  bitterness  and  the  dregs 
of  remorse,  and  because  countless  thousands  of  others  have  ex- 
perienced, like  the  prodigal,  the  utter  hollowness  and  emptiness 
of  a  life  of  sin  and  sordid  enjoyment  and  have  resolved  in 
their  moments  of  reason,  when  they  "came  to  themselves,"  to 
"arise  and  to  go  to  my  father"  and  have  there  found  forgive- 
ness and  peace  in  the  loving  arms  of  a  father's  mercy,  I  say 
because  of  all  these  considerations  the  case  of  the  prodigal  son 
serves,  perhaps,  as  the  most  perfect  and  the  most  complete 
epitome  of  the  terrible  tragedy  of  human  sin  and  divine  redemp- 
tion from  sin  through  suffering  and  love.  Here  we  have  a  pic- 
ture of  sin  in  its  secret  inception  and  open  manifestation,  of 
consequent  guilt  and  shame  in  its  most  attractive  guise  of  good- 
fellowship  and  of  unsatisfying  pleasure,  of  keen  remorse  over 
wasted  powers  and  opportunities  and  of  bitter  anguish  at  the 
remembrance  of  a  father's  unrequited  love  and  unappreciated 
goodness,  of  a  heroic  resolution  to  atone  for  past  remissness 
and  to  implore  an  undeserving  forgiveness  at  his  father's  hands, 
and  of  such  an  unexpected  and  an  overpowering  outburst  of 
a  father's  pent-up  love  in  ample  forgiveness  and  joyous  restora- 
tion, that  the  world  has  been  moved  to  tears  of  pity,  of  re- 
pentance and  rejoicing  in  all  ages  by  its  contemplation.  A  closer 
study  of  this  incomparable  story  of  human  weakness  and  of 
divine  mercy  and  strength  will  surely  be  especially  helpful  in 
the  light  of  what  we  have  already  considered. 

The  Prodigal's  Sin  and  Estrangement  from  his  Father. 
The  prodigal's  sin  consisted  chiefly  in  his  unfilial  attitude  of 
disobedience  and  disloyalty  in  asking  for  himself  what  did  not 
belong  to  him.  "Father  give  me  the  portion  of  goods  that  falletb 
to  me."      This  was  his  bold  and  shameless  request.     But,  as  a 


31 

matter  of  fact,  he  had  no  claim  on  his  father  as  was  implied  in 
his  request.  As  long  as  the  father  lived  all  his  goods  belonged 
to  him  and  were  his  own  possessions.  The  son  had  no  right, 
either  legal  or  moral,  to  request  any  for  himself.  It  was  insub- 
ordination on  the  part  of  the  son,  asking  for  what  did  not  be- 
long to  him,  requesting  for  his  own  personal  selfish  enjoyment 
what  was  unlawful  to  him.  This  is  really  at  the  root  of  all  sin, 
a  desire  on  the  part  of  the  sinner  to  have  for  himself  and  to 
use  in  self-gratification  what  really  does  not  belong  to  him  and 
what  is  unlawful  and,  therefore,  sinful  for  him  to  have.  All  sin 
is  selfishness  and  all  selfishness  is  sin,  and  consists  largely,  if  not 
entirely,  in  the  attitude  of  the  prodigal,  when  he  asked  for  him- 
self the  portion  of  the  goods  which  really  did  not  belong  to  him, 
but  which  he  desired  to  spend  upon  himself  in  sinful  pleasure 
and  shameful  debauchery.  Our  impulses  and  passions  are  con- 
tinually urging  us  on  to  ask  for  self-indulgence  and  self-grati- 
fication in  the  things  which  are  unlawful  for  us  to  have.  "Sin 
is  the  transgression  of  the  law,"  we  are  told.  It  consists  in  doing 
the  things  which  are  forbidden  or  of  leaving  undone  the  things 
which  are  required.  In  the  last  analysis  our  sins  very  largely 
grow  out  of  our  secret  desire  or  our  open  demand  for  what 
does  not  belong  to  us  by  way  of  enjoyment  or  indulgence,  or  in 
failing  to  render  filial  obedience  to  the  will  of  the  kind  father  in 
loving  service.  The  prodigal  was  guilty  of  both.  We,  as  sin- 
ners, share  the  prodigal's  attitude,  consequently  partake  of  his 
guilt.  To  be  sure,  the  father  was  under  no  obligation  to  grant 
the  son's  request.  But  because  of  our  freedom  of  choice,  God 
allows  us  our  way  and  makes  us  take  the  consequences  of  our 
acts. 

The  prodigal's  departure  from  home  and  his  estrangement  from 
his  father  in  a  far  country  was  but  an  incident  or  a  consequence 
of  his  rebellious  attitude.  Sin  always  separates.  Selfishness  and 
love  cannot  dwell  together  in  peace.  The  journeying  to  a  far 
country  and  the  spending  of  his  substance  in  riotous  living  were 
but  the  natural  and  logical  consequences  of  an  unfilial  attitude  and 
of  selfish  requests  for  indulgence  in  the  things  which  did  not  be- 
long to  him.  The  first  step  of  this  lamentable  downfall  was  a 
3 


32 

secret  desire  in  the  heart  of  the  younger  son  for  what  was  not 
lawful  for  him  to  have.  The  secret  desire  brought  forth  the  for- 
bidden act  and  that  involved  the  foolish  son  in  a  long  train  of 
evil  consequences,  with  separation,  estrangement,  self-gratifica- 
tion and  utter  abandonment  of  the  noblest  that  was  in  him.  Sin 
seeks  a  hiding  place.  Adam  sought  to  get  away  from  God  by 
hiding.  His  descendants  have  followed  his  example  in  sin  and 
in  seeking  to  hide  and  get  away  from  God.  The  estrangement 
is  always  on  the  part  of  the  sinner,  not  on  the  part  of  God.  The 
prodigal's  father  was  not  estranged.  He  had  nothing  but  sorrow 
and  compassion  for  his  wayward  son.  And  this  is  true  of  our 
Heavenly  Father.  He  grieves  for  His  wayward  and  rebellious 
children.  He  sought  Adam  in  the  garden  and  called,  "Adam, 
where  art  thou?"  He  has  sought  His  disobedient  children  ever 
since.  He  has  come  to  seek  and  to  save,  in  Jesus  Christ,  that  which 
was  lost.  The  estrangement  of  the  human  soul  from  God  is  always 
on  the  part  of  the  soul  itself,  in  that  it  voluntarily  and  deliber- 
ately refuses  to  yield  obedience  and  service  to  its  Heavenly  Father ; 
and  in  requesting  for  itself  "goods"  and  pleasures  and  self-grati- 
fication which  are  unlawful  for  the  soul  to  have.  And  in  seek- 
ing forbidden  pleasures  the  soul  removes  itself  from  the  happy 
associations  of  the  Father's  house  to  a  "far  country"  of  sin  and 
forbidden  pleasure. 

The  Prodigal's  Remorse  and  Sorrow  for  Sin.  A  life 
of  self-indulgence  and  dissolution  did  not  satisfy  the  foolish 
young  man.  Forbidden  pleasures  last  but  for  a  season.  They 
always  leave  the  heart  hungry  and  the  spirit  unsatisfied  and 
the  higher  wants  unmet.  With  his  substance  wasted  in  riotous 
living,  and  his  merry-making  friends  abandoning  him  after  he 
was  unable  to  minister  to  their  pleasure  and  with  the  pangs  of 
an  unsatisfied  hunger  gnawing  at  him  while  he  himself  was 
seeking  to  satisfy  his  physical  wants  with  the  "husks  which  the 
swine  did  eat,"  the  prodigal  began  to  reflect  over  his  pitiful 
condition  and  to  come  to  his  senses.  He  "came  to  himself."  His 
reason  reasserted  itself.  The  remembrance  of  his  father's  house, 
with  its  servants  in  comfort  and  plenty  and  the  realization  of 
his   own   poor   miserable   condition,   made   him    say   to   himself. 


33 

"How  many  hired  servants  of  my  father's  have  bread  enough 
and  to  spare  and  I  suffer  with  hunger."  That  was  a  physical 
pang.  The  remembrance  of  his  father's  loving  kindness  and 
how  he  spurned  it  and  abused  it  by  his  unfilial  conduct,  causing 
his  father  sorrow  and  pain,  together  with  the  solemn  conscious- 
ness of  his  own  unworthiness  and  sinfulness,  must  have  given  him 
a  keener  pang.  Alone,  and  in  solitude,  needy  and  unsatisfied, 
with  the  blackness  and  worthlessness  of  his  own  life  ever  pres- 
ent before  him,  with  sorrow  and  remorse  for  his  past  conduct, 
he  turned  in  his  hopelessness  and  remorse  to  the  thought  of  his 
father's  house  and  his  father's  plenty.  Might  he  not  there  find 
a  refuge,  and  on  bended  knee,  beg  for  the  privilege  of  humble 
service?  "I  will  arise  and  go  to  my  father  and  will  say,  father 
I  have  sinned  against  heaven  and  before  thee  and  am  no  more 
worthy  to  be  called  thy  son;  make  me  as  one  of  thy  hired 
servants."  Such  penitence  and  genuine  humility  and  utter 
self-abasement !  Surely  there  was  nothing  wanting  on  the 
prodigal's  part  to  make  the  cup  of  his  bitterness  full  to  overflow- 
ing. Such  humility  is  precious  in  the  sight  of  God.  Such 
emptiness  of  self  God  can  fill  with  joy  and  gladness.  Such 
gnawing  spiritual  hunger  God  delights  to  satisfy  with  bounteous 
plenty. 

What  an  impressive  fact  of  the  disappointing  and  unsatisfying 
results  of  a  life  of  sin.  To  enjoy  the  "pleasures  of  sin  for  a 
season"  is  usually  followed  by  loathing  and  by  an  unsatisfied 
hunger.  Sin  is  disappointing  and  its  punishment  usually  stands 
in  intimate  relation  to  the  sin.  So  with  the  prodigal.  "He,  who 
would  not,  as  a  son,  be  treated  liberally  by  his  father,  is  com- 
pelled to  be  the  servant  and  bondslave  of  a  foreign  master;  he 
who  would  not  be  ruled  by  God,  is  compelled  to  serve  the  devil ; 
he  who  would  not  abide  in  his  father's  royal  palace  is  sent  to 
the  fields  among  swine;  he  who  would  not  dwell  among  breth- 
ren and  princes,  is  obliged  to  be  the  servant  and  companion  of 
brutes;  he  who  would  not  feed  on  the  bread  of  angels,  petitions 
in  his  hunger  for  the  husks  of  the  swine."  Sin  never  satisfies 
the  higher  demands  of  the  soul.  It  leaves  hunger,  a  desire 
for  husks.      It    awakens    recollections    of    better    things.      Its 


34 

unsatisfying  character  was  the  prodigal's  salvation.  It  left  him 
impoverished  physically  and  morally  and  this  was  a  mighty  help 
to  his  regeneration. 

His  Resolution  to  Return  to  His  Father's  House.  The 
prodigal  was  not  content  to  remain  in  his  state  of  poverty 
and  estrangement.  He  was  not  only  sincerely  sick  of  his  past 
life  and  thoroughly  penitent  for  his  past  sins,  but  he  was  also 
exceedingly  anxious  to  get  back  to  his  father's  house  and  make 
amends,  as  far  as  possible,  for  what  he  had  done.  So  he  re- 
solved within  himself:  "I  will  arise  and  go  to  my  father  and  I 
will  say  unto  him,  father  I  have  sinned  against  heaven  and  be- 
fore thee,  and  am  no  more  worthy  to  be  called  thy  son.  Make 
me  as  one  of  thy  hired  servants."  This  was  the  turning  point 
in  his  life  that  carried  with  it  the  power  of  change.  Sorrow 
for  past  sin,  a  desire  to  return  to  the  father's  house  and  to  enjoy 
the  father's  bounty  was  not  sufficient,  though  it  was  a  necessary 
condition  which  led  to  his  saving  resolution.  'T  will  arise."  This 
was  an  act  of  will  on  his  part,  a  deliberate  attitude  of  the  soul 
which  led  him  into  sin  and  guilt  in  the  first  place  and  which  now 
in  his  extremity  will  be  the  immediate  cause  of  his  redemption 
and  reformation.  This  cannot  be  too  strongly  emphasized.  It 
is  the  most  vital  and  the  most  important  and  the  most  potential 
element  in  all  the  processes  of  conversion.  It  is  the  crucial  test 
of  conversion.  When  the  prodigal  said  to  himself  in  the  full 
strength  of  his  sin-sick  soul,  "I  will  arise  and  go  to  my  father 
and  I  will  say  unto  him,  father  I  have  sinned,"  and  then  when  he 
followed  up  his  resolution  by  the  necessary  course  of  action  in- 
volved in  the  resolution,  then  the  battle  was  won,  the  tide  was 
turned,  the  course  was  now  backward  to  the  father  and  upward 
to  the  light.  To  have  resolved  mightily  in  his  heart  to  leave 
his  old  life,  to  throw  himself  upon  his  father's  mercy  and  to  ask 
his  father's  forgiveness  and  restoration,  was  all  that  the  young 
man  could  do  so  far  as  his  subjective  attitude  was  concerned. 
But  this  was  much.  And  then  to  follow  up  his  noble  resolution 
with  honest,  earnest  and  sincere  effort,  in  the  right  direction, 
was  what  made  his  resolution  effective.  The  supreme  moment 
is  always  when  the  soul  resolves  within  itself,  and  solemnly  and 


35 

firmly  draws  its  full  strength  together  for  the  decisive  and  fate- 
ful moment  of  decision  and  consequent  action.  These  are  the 
moments  in  the  life  of  individuals  which  completely  change  and 
entirely  revolutionize  their  lives. 

The  Father's  Treatment  of  the  Prodigal.  The  prodi- 
gal had  done  his  part.  He  had  made  his  solemn  reso- 
lution. He  had  retraced  his  steps  without  hesitancy.  He 
had  thrown  himself  upon  his  father's  mercy,  with  the  confes- 
sion :  "Father  I  have  sinned,  I  am  no  more  worthy  to  be  called 
thy  son.  But  do  not  cast  me  away  in  anger,  but  have  mercy 
upon  me  in  thy  pity  and  find  a  place  for  me,  however  humble  and 
lowly,  in  thy  spiritual  household."  His  rebellion  was  gone.  His 
self-sufficiency  and  pride  were  humbled.  He  made  no  plea  of 
extenuating  circumstances  and  showed  no  disposition  to  lay  the 
blame  on  some  one  else.  It  was  his  rebellious  heart  that  had  done 
it.  It  was  his  fault  that  was  the  cause  of  it.  He  knew  it  only  too 
well.  He  would  simply  make  a  full  and  complete  acknowledg- 
ment and  trust  his  father's  love  and  mercy  for  the  rest.  It  was 
this  attitude  which  made  it  possible  for  his  father  to  receive  him 
graciously.  It  is  such  an  attitude  of  heart  in  the  sinner  which 
makes  forgiveness  and  restoration  at  the  hands  of  God  always 
possible. 

And  surely  the  penitent  son  was  not  long  in  doubt.  What  a 
picture  we  have  of  the  father's  unbounded  love.  "When  he  was 
yet  a  great  way  oflF  his  father  saw  him  and  had  compassion  and 
ran  on  his  neck  and  kissed  him."  Before  the  repentant  son  had 
ever  uttered  a  word  or  opened  his  mouth  to  speak  in  confession, 
or  framed  his  petition  for  pardon,  his  long-suffering  father  had 
seen  him  in  the  distance,  and  had  already  pronounced  the  words 
of  forgiveness  in  his  own  heart.  The  father's  love  anticipated 
the  request  of  the  son  for  forgiveness.  Yea,  he  had  been  pa- 
tiently waiting  for  the  son's  return.  He  had  suffered  untold 
anguish  over  his  son's  waywardness  and  was  grieved  beyond 
measure  over  his  son's  absence  from  home.  The  heart  of  God 
is  always  more  grieved  over  the  sinner's  waywardness  than  human 
tongue  can  tell.  John  G.  Paton  in  his  autobiography  tells  of  a 
praying  old  mother  in  Scotland  whose  son  had  left  home  to  be 


36 

lost  in  the  larger  world  of  the  British  Empire.  But  the  mother's 
heart  clung  to  the  hope  of  a  return.  "Every  night  she  prayed 
for  that  event,  and  before  closing  the  door,  threw  it  wide  open 
and  peered  into  the  darkness  with  a  cry,  'come  home,  my  boy 
Walter,  your  mother  wearies  sair.'  And  every  morning,  at  early 
break  of  day,  for  a  period  of  more  than  twenty  years,  she  tod- 
dled up  from  her  cottage  door  at  Johnsfield,  Lockerbie,  to  a 
little  round  hill  called  the  'Corbie  Dykes'  and  gazing  with  tear- 
filled  eyes  towards  the  south,  for  the  form  of  her  returning 
boy,  praying  the  Lord  God  to  keep  him  safe  and  restore  him  to 
her  yet  again."  What  a  picture  of  a  Heavenly  Father's  untiring 
love  and  passionate  yearning  for  the  return  of  His  wandering 
children. 

The  son's  forgiveness  and  restoration  was  complete  and  past 
all  expectation.  There  was  not  one  element  lacking.  He  had 
framed  a  form  of  confession  to  be  made  to  his  father,  but  the 
words  died  on  his  lips  unexpressed  in  the  father's  assuring  act 
of  welcome.  He  had  hoped  to  take  his  place  among  his  father's 
servants  who  had  "bread  enough  and  to  spare,"  but  instead  he  was 
received  in  princely  fashion  and  restored  to  his  rightful  place 
of  sonship  in  his  father's  family.  He  had  longed  to  eat  of  the 
humble  fare  which  fell  to  the  lot  of  his  father's  hired  servants, 
but  instead  the  father  ordered  a  bountiful  feast  to  be  prepared  for 
him  and  to  be  served  in  the  presence  of  rejoicing  friends  with 
royal  splendor,  in  his  special  honor.  The  prodigal  hoped  he  might 
lay  aside  his  tattered  garments — fit  emblems  of  his  wasted  life 
— and  be  clothed  in  the  plain  and  simple  garb  of  self-respect  and 
decency;  but  instead  his  father  had  him  arrayed  in  the  best 
garments  of  his  princely  wardrobe,  with  shoes  on  his  travel-stained 
feet  and  a  ring  on  his  finger,  clothed  with  all  the  emblems  of  a 
royal  welcome  and  reception.  And  there  was  great  rejoicing. 
"Let  us  eat  and  be  merry  for  this  my  son  was  dead,  and  is 
alive  again ;  he  was  lost  and  is  found." 

What  an  impressive  picture  this  is  of  God's  loving  attitude 
towards  his  wayward  children.  Whatever  our  theories  may  be 
about  the  forgiveness  of  sin  theologically,  there  can  be  not  a 
particle  of  doubt  in  the  mind  of  anyone  as  to  God's  attitude 


37 

towards  the  repentant  sinner  and  His  willingness  and  readiness 
to  forgive  sin.  He  does  not  only  wait  for  the  return  of  the 
prodigal  and  see  him  in  the  distance  and  run  out  with  out- 
stretched arms  to  meet  him  and  welcome  him  and  forgive  him; 
he  is  tireless  in  his  efforts  to  seek  and  to  find  the  lost  children 
of  men,  as  is  shown  by  the  parable  of  the  lost  sheep  and  the 
lost  coin.  God  has  been  seeking  his  children  ever  since  the  first 
recorded  prodigal  alienated  himself  from  his  Maker  by  his  own 
sin  and  hid  himself  in  the  garden,  to  be  startled  by  the  words, 
"Adam,  where  art  thou?"  The  prophets,  as  God's  messengers, 
sought  to  bring  back  the  children  of  Israel  to  the  worship  of 
Jehovah,  by  urgent  and  repeated  invitations.  Jesus  himself  came 
as  unto  the  lost  sheep  of  the  house  of  Israel  "to  seek  and  to 
save  that  which  was  lost."  And  He  represents  himself  as  the 
Good  Shepherd,  seeking  the  lost  sheep,  carrying  them  home  in 
his  bosom,  gently  caring  for  them  and  gathering  them  into  his 
fold.  It  is  a  beautiful  and  touching  thought,  that  God  in  all 
the  ages  has  been  endeavoring,  through  all  the  saving  influences 
at  His  command,  to  bring  back  His  wandering  children  to  Him- 
self and  restore  them  to  their  full  prerogative  of  sonship  in  His 
own  spiritual  Kingdom. 

There  can  surely  be  no  doubt  in  the  mind  of  any  of  God's 
children  as  to  His  attitude  in  the  matter  of  forgiveness.  His  love 
is  boundless  and  envelops  all.  His  hand  is  ever  stretched  forth 
to  raise  from  the  dust  any  truly  penitent  sinner  and  make  him 
stand  on  his  feet  in  self-respect  and  confidence.  His  ear  is  ever 
open  to  listen  to  the  cry  of  His  suffering  children  and  come  to 
their  rescue.  God  is  not  slow  to  forgive  nor  sparing  with  His 
mercy.  No,  God  is  slow  to  anger  and  "plenteous  in  mercy.'' 
It  is  not  necessary  for  the  penitent  soul  to  storm  the  courts  of 
heaven  with  agonizing  prayers  and  with  long-continued  petitions 
before  the  portals  open  and  peace  and  assurance  is  spoken  to 
the  trembling  soul.  The  sinner's  submission  and  surrender  must 
be  complete.  This  is  the  condition.  To  such  souls  the  acceptance 
is  complete.  Why  should  the  sin-sick  soul  not  take  courage 
and  come.  Let  no  one  doubt,  but  take  God  at  His  word  and 
come. 


38 


Just  as  I  am,  without  one  plea 
But  that  Thy  blood  was  shed  for  me 
And  that  Thou  bidst  me  come  to  Thee, 
O  Lamb  of  God,  I  come. 

Just  as  I  am,  though  tossed  about 
With  many  a  conflict,  many  a  doubt, 
Fightings  within  and  fears  without, 
O  Lamb  of  God,  I  come. 

Just  as  I  am.  Thou  wilt  receive 
Wilt  welcome,  pardon,  cleanse,  relieve ; 
Because  Thy  promise  I  believe, 
O  Lamb  of  God,  I  come. 


PART  TWO. 

CONVERSION  THROUGH  CHRISTIAN 
CULTURE. 


That  the  confirmed  and  hardened  sinner  should  need  a  radi- 
cal change  of  heart  and  life  in  conversion  is  self-evident.  It  is 
the  teaching  of  Scripture  and  the  testimony  of  experience.  On 
the  other  hand,  that  children  of  Christian  parents  and  surrounded 
by  Christian  influences  should  be  able  to  enter  into  their  spiritual 
inheritance  without  any  striking  radical  change  in  their  conscious 
moral  life  ought  to  be  equally  self-evident.  It,  too,  is  clearly 
taught  in  Scripture  and  attested  by  experience.  One  is  the  proc- 
ess of  conversion  through  moral  revolution,  the  other  through 
moral  evolution.  By  the  one  method  the  spiritual  nature  is 
"transformed"  from  a  state  of  moral  unworthiness  to  one  of 
moral  worthiness.  By  the  other  process  the  spiritual  nature  is 
"conformed"  in  its  growth  and  development  to  the  life  and  char- 
acter of  Jesus  Christ,  who  is  not  only  the  author,  but  also  the 
finisher  of  our  faith. 

And  yet  there  is  no  agreement  on  the  part  of  Christian  teachers 
and  professors  on  this  point.  Some  stoutly  maintain  that  every 
soul  must  pass  through  a  more  or  less  radical  change  of  heart 
before  it  can  be  considered  in  a  state  of  salvation.  Some  would 
even  go  so  far  as  to  claim  that  unless  time,  place  and  circum- 
stances of  conversion  are  distinctly  remembered  there  is  something 
essential  lacking  in  one's  spiritual  state.  Others  again  believe  with 
Dwight  L.  Moody  that  children  may  be  so  carefully  trained  in 
Christian  families  that  they  may  never  be  conscious  of  a  strik- 
ing change  in  their  lives.  Yet  such  a  change  must  be  assumed  as 
having  taken  place,  whether  they  are  conscious  of  it  or  not,  or 

39 


40 

else  they  cannot  be  considered  genuinely  converted.  That  some 
of  the  most  beautiful  Christians  have  never  known  a  negative 
period  in  their  lives  must  be  admitted  by  all  earnest  and  sin- 
cere Christian  believers  who  place  character  above  profession. 
Whether  we  assume  an  unconscious  process  of  conversion  for  the 
Christians  of  the  gradual-growth  type  or  regard  them  as  the 
product  of  careful  Christian  training  is  a  matter  of  small  moment. 
The  result  is  the  same.  It  cannot  be  denied  that  the  Bible  makes 
ample  provision  for  just  such  cases.  And  that  many  earnest, 
lovable  Christian  spirits  have  come  into  the  kingdom  by  the 
gradual  process  of  being  "conformed  to  the  image"  of  Jesus  Christ 
through  Christian  growth  and  development  is  richly  illustrated  by 
the  spiritual  experience  of  some  of  the  world's  most  beautiful 
Christian  characters. 


L     Salvation  through  Christian  Culture  a  Scriptural 

Doctrine. 

That  the  language  of  the  church  currently  used  with  refer- 
ence to  conversion,  has  been  largely  in  terms  implying  a  radical 
change  cannot  be  denied.  Such  terms  as  "Repent  ye,"  "Regen- 
eration," "the  New  Birth,"  "Putting  off  the  Old  Man  and  Put- 
ting on  the  New  Man,"  "Crucified  with  Christ,"  and  similar 
expressions  do  most  assuredly  imply  a  radical  process  of 
transformation. 

This  was  the  language  used  by  the  apostles  and  their  succes- 
sors in  converting  heathen  and  non-Christian  peoples  to  Chris- 
tianity. And  these  are  the  terms  which  have  been  used  by  the 
church  ever  since  its  aggressive  work  of  bringing  the  world 
to  Christ.  But  the  mission  of  bringing  the  whole  world 
to  Christ  is  a  broad  and  comprehensive  one.  There  are 
at  least  four  distinguishable  duties  included  under  the  single 
notion  of  "converting  the  world''  and  of  making  disciples  of 
all  nations :  "First,  heathen  or  non-Christian  peoples  must  be 
made  Christian ;  second,  non-Christian  persons  in  Christian  com- 
munities must  be  led  to  Christ ;  third,  children  bom  in  Christian 


41 

families  must  be  kept  for  Christ  and  prevented  from  becoming- 
hostile  or  indifferent ;  fourth,  Christian  believers  must  be  built  up 
in  the  faith  and  in  the  application  of  Christian  principles  to  all 
parts  of  individual  and  social  life."  It  is  very  evident  that 
the  terms  for  conversion  implying  a  radical  change  are  appli- 
cable to  the  first  two  duties  referred  to.  But  to  use  the  same 
terms  for  conversion  when  the  last  two  duties  are  under  consid- 
eration is  manifestly  improper  and  unfair.  The  conversion  of 
the  heathen  and  the  ungodly  requires  one  kind  of  language,  be- 
cause a  radical  transformation  must  be  emphasized  in  such  work, 
but  the  training  up  of  children  in  the  Christian  faith  requires 
another  kind  of  language,  or  else  the  use  of  one  set  of  terms 
with  a  changed  meaning. 

When  Jesus  said  to  Nicodemus,  "Ye  must  be  bom  again," 
He  was  talking  to  an  adult  member  of  the  Jewish  faith.  To 
make  the  term  "New  Birth"  applicable,  therefore,  to  the  devel- 
opment of  the  child's  spiritual  nature  would  manifestly  be  doing 
violence  to  the  import  of  the  Master's  words.  When  Paul  wrote 
to  the  Ephesians  and  to  the  Colossians  about  "putting  off  the 
old  man"  and  "putting  on  the  new  man,"  he  was  addressing  men 
and  women  who  had  come  out  of  heathen  darkness  into  the  pure 
light  of  the  Christian  faith,  and  hence  the  appropriateness  of  the 
language  used  under  the  circumstances.  But  to  make  this  lan- 
guage of  Paul's  universally  applicable  to  the  spiritual  experi- 
ence of  children  reared  in  Christian  homes  and  under  Christian 
influences  would  be  both  unjust  and  unscriptural.  To  have  used 
the  language  intended  for  the  regeneration  of  the  hardened  sin- 
ner, requiring  a  radical  transformation,  for  all  types  of  religious 
experience  indiscriminately,  has  wrought  confusion  and  havoc 
in  the  minds  of  thousands  of  earnest,  struggling  souls  who  were 
not  able  to  discriminate  properly  in  the  matter.  To  claim,  for 
instance,  that  children  of  Christian  parentage  and  training  must 
be  "born  again"  in  the  sense  that  the  immoral  and  the  ungodly  must 
be  born  again  is  to  misinterpret  the  meaning  of  Christ's  words 
and  to  ignore  the  fundamental  character  of  the  child's  spiritual 
nature. 

There  is   an  appropriate   language  implying  a   radical   trans- 


42 

formation  for  the  conversion  of  the  worldly,  the  indifferent,  the 
immoral.  Let  it  be  used,  therefore,  in  accordance  with  its  his- 
torical origin  and  for  its  intended  purpose.  In  this  connection 
such  terms  as  the  "New  Birth,"  "Regeneration,"  the  "Old  Man," 
and  the  "New  Man,"  "Crucified  with  Christ,"  "Born  again"  and 
others  of  similar  character  are  not  only  appropriate  but  neces- 
sary and  indispensable.  But  when  it  comes  to  the  matter  of 
salvation  for  the  growing  Christian  child,  then  such  terms  are 
inappropriate  and  misguiding  and  frequently  lead  to  intellectual 
confusion  and  to  spiritual  hardship.  When  the  Bible  speaks  of 
the  process  of  conversion  through  Christian  culture  and  education, 
it  uses  such  terms  as  imply  life,  growth,  development,  nurture, 
good  soil,  good  seed,  fruit.  Or  the  child's  spiritual  relationship 
to  God  is  conceived  of  under  the  figure  of  a  Son  in  the  Father's 
house,  or  of  a  Lamb  in  the  care  of  a  Good  Shepherd,  or  else 
in  the  language  of  trustfulness  and  childlike  dependence  upon 
God.  The  same  Jesus  who  spoke  to  Nicodemus  concerning  the 
"New  Birth"  also  spoke  to  the  loving  mothers  who  brought  their 
children  to  Him  that  He  might  bless  them ;  "Suffer  the  little  chil- 
dren to  come  to  me  and  forbid  them  not,  for  of  such  is  the 
Kingdom  of  Heaven."  For  the  adult  and  hardened  sinner,  trans- 
formation ;  for  the  growing  child  of  religious  parentage  and  train- 
ing, "formation"  of  character  by  a  positive  process  of  building 
up  the  right  spiritual  activities  and  forces  in  the  child's  growing 
personality.  It  will  be  instructive  to  consider  the  more  positive 
process  of  spiritual  culture  and  character-formation  and  to  dis- 
cover what  a  wealth  of  material  there  is,  both  in  the  language  of 
Scripture  and  in  the  testimony  of  human  experience,  as  bear- 
ing on  this  phase  of  the  question.  The  importance  of  the  child's 
spiritual  life  and  the  necessity  and  supreme  value  of  wise  Chris- 
tian training  for  children  have  never  been  recognized  at  their 
full  value.  The  Bible  furnishes  rich  material  for  the  contention 
that  the  child  of  Christian  parents  and  of  careful  Christian  train- 
ing may,  by  a  process  of  gradual  growth  and  unfolding  of  his 
spiritual  nature,  enter  into  the  full  possession  of  his  spiritual  in- 
heritance without  any  radical  break  or  conflict  or  strain  in  his 
spiritual  experience. 


43 


J.     The  Old  Testament  View  of  the  Child's  Religious  State. 

The  Jews  regarded  their  children  as  members  of  the  theo- 
cratic kingdom  by  virtue  of  their  birth.  Great  stress  was  laid 
upon  the  training  of  children  so  that  the  special  revelation  to 
the  fathers  might  be  carefully  handed  down  to  the  children. 
There  was  no  theory  of  conversion  for  those  born  into  the  old 
dispensation.  They  were  already  children  of  Abraham,  and  they 
were  to  be  reared  in  the  faith  of  the  fathers,  with  special  ref- 
erence to  the  promises  which  were  not  only  to  the  fathers  but 
also  to  their  children  and  children's  children.  Thus  Abraham 
was  made  the  friend  of  God  and  taken  into  the  counsels  of  the 
Most  High,  because  he  would  do  his  duty  by  his  children  and 
bring  them  up  in  the  ways  of  the  Lord :  ''For  I  know  him,  that 
he  will  command  his  children  and  his  household  after  him,  and 
they  shall  keep  the  ways  of  the  Lord,  to  do  justice  and  judg- 
ment, that  the  Lord  may  bring  upon  Abraham  that  which  he 
hath  spoken  concerning  him."  Genesis  i8:  19.  Moses,  the  great 
lawgiver,  was  a  remarkable  illustration  of  what  may  be  done  in 
childhood  to  determine  the  character  of  a  man  in  mature  years. 
The  teaching  of  his  pious  mother  made  such  an  impression  upon 
his  youthful  mind  that  "all  the  learning  of  the  Egyptians"  could 
not  eradicate  it.  He  chose  to  suffer  with  his  own  people  rather 
than  enjoy  the  "treasures  of  Egypt."  When  the  law  of  the  Pass- 
over was  fixed  it  was  provided  that  the  fathers  should  instruct 
their  children  properly  in  the  deeper  significance  of  the  observ- 
ance in  such  words  as  these :  "And  ye  shall  observe  this  thing 
for  an  ordinance  to  thee  and  to  thy  sons  forever.  And  it  shall 
come  to  pass  when  your  children  shall  say  unto  you.  What  mean 
ye  by  this  service?  that  ye  shall  say,  It  is  the  sacrifice  of  the 
Lord's  Passover,  who  passed  over  the  houses  of  the  children  of 
Israel  in  Egypt,  when  he  smote  the  Egyptians  and  delivered  our 
houses."  Exodus  12:25,  2^/.  The  duty  of  religious  instruction 
is  enjoined  still  more  emphatically  upon  the  children  of  Israel 
in  the  words  of  Deuteronomy :  "And  these  words  which  I  com- 
mand thee  this  day  shall  be  in  thine  heart;  and  thou  shalt  teach 


44 

them  diligently  unto  thy  children  and  shalt  talk  of  them  when 
thou  sittest  down  in  thine  house  and  when  thou  walkest  by  the 
way  and  when  thou  liest  down  and  when  thou  risest  up."  Deu- 
teronomy 6:6,  7.  And  again  :  "I  will  make  them  hear  my  words 
that  they  may  learn  to  fear  me  all  the  days  that  they  shall 
live  upon  the  earth,  and  that  they  teach  them  to  their  children." 
Deuteronomy  4:  10. 

The  peculiar  rite  for  Jewish  children  was  circumcision.  All 
male  children  had  to  be  circumcised;  also  all  male  children  of 
strangers  living  within  their  borders  were  expected  to  be  cir- 
cumcised. Every  child  of  Jewish  parents  was  supposed  to  be 
a  member  of  the  Jewish  faith.  The  rite  of  circumcision  was  the 
seal  of  his  adoption.  He  was  to  be  reared  in  this  faith.  He 
was  to  be  taught  the  accepted  doctrines  and  the  special  dispensa- 
tions of  Providence  peculiar  to  this  people  from  his  youth  up 
by  his  parents.  Arrived  at  years  of  discretion,  he  was  to  be- 
come a  full  member  of  the  Jewish  religion  by  virtue  of  his  vol- 
untary acceptance  of  his  father's  God  as  his  own  personal  God, 
and  by  a  voluntary  acceptance  of  the  faith  and  practices  of 
the  fathers  as  his  own  personal  faith  and  practice.  No  proc- 
ess of  conversion  to  the  faith  was  required  for  the  normal 
Jewish  child.  It  was  only  through  voluntary  apostasy  or  through 
gross  idolatry  that  separation  from  the  Abrahamic  covenant 
resulted  and  that  consequently  a  process  of  conversion  and  res- 
toration became  necessary.  The  normal  Jewish  child,  under  the 
covenant  made  with  Abraham,  was  to  be  regarded  as  a  member 
of  the  household  of  faith  by  virtue  of  his  birth.  He  was  to  be 
educated  and  trained  as  a  member  of  the  Jewish  faith  and  he 
was  to  continue  a  member  as  long  as  he  lived  by  virtue  of  his 
voluntary  acceptance  of  all  which  membership  in  the  Abrahamic 
covenant  implied.  Membership  was  not  gained  by  conver- 
sion, but  by  birth  and  adoption,  by  training  and  culture.  Con- 
version was  the  prerogative  of  those  who  were  renegades  or  of 
those  who  wanted  to  be  taken  into  the  covenant  from  outside 
the  pale  of  promise.  The  normal  process  was  training  and  cul- 
ture within  the  kingdom;  and  at  no  time  was  the  Jewish  child 
to  be  considered  as  a  stranger  to  the  covenant  promises  or  as 


45 

unfitted   by   age   and    experience   to   participate   in   the   spiritual 
privileges  of  the  kingdom. 

2,     The  Attitude  of  Jesus  toward  Children. 

The  attitude  of  Jesus  toward  children  with  reference  to  their 
membership  in  the  kingdom  was  the  same  as  that  of  the  pious 
Jew  of  His  time.  Jesus  regarded  the  children  as  belonging  to 
the  kingdom,  and  only  through  voluntary  apostasy  could  they 
lose  their  covenant  rights  and  privileges.  Jesus  himself  was 
brought  to  the  temple  by  his  parents  soon  after  his  birth  and 
presented  to  the  Lord  with  thank-oflferings  of  praise  and  rejoicing, 
in  accordance  with  the  custom  of  his  time.  As  a  child,  he  grew 
up  in  the  fear  of  the  Lord,  carefully  instructed  in  all  the  require- 
ments of  the  Jewish  faith  and  faithfully  taught  in  all  the  ac- 
cepted standards  of  tradition  and  revelation.  At  twelve  he 
astonished  the  doctors  in  the  temple  by  the  character  of  the  ques- 
tions he  asked  and  answered.  Under  the  conscientious  instruc- 
tion of  his  pious  parents  and  guided  by  the  spirit  of  his  Father 
the  boy  "grew  in  wisdom  and  in  stature  and  in  favor  with  God 
and  man."  Jesus  was  not  converted  into  the  kingdom.  He 
was  born  into  the  kingdom.  And  he  was  raised  and  nurtured 
in  the  kingdom.  And  when  He  came  into  the  full  consciousness 
of  His  divine  mission.  He  was  already  in  the  kingdom  by  birth, 
by  education  and  by  conscious  choice.  The  full  realization  of 
His  divine  origin  and  mission  dawned  upon  Him,  not  by  way 
of  a  radical  change  of  conversion  into  the  kingdom,  but  by  a  special 
process  of  inner  illumination  and  self-realization  within  the  king- 
dom itself.  This  is  significant  and  worthy  of  careful  consider- 
ation. As  the  Jewish  child  was  within  the  Abrahamic  covenant 
by  virtue  of  his  physical  and  spiritual  descent  from  Abraham, 
so  the  child  of  Christian  parents  and  Christian  training  is  by 
virtue  of  the  divine  life,  operative  in  children  as  in  grown  peo- 
ple, a  member  of  God's  spiritual  kingdom  and  needs  no  strik- 
ing conversion  to  be  brought  into  the  kingdom.  This  was 
evidently  the  view  of  Jesus  and  it  was  beautifully  illustrated  both 
hy  His  teaching  and  by  His  example. 


46 

In  answer  to  the  question,  Who  is  greatest  in  the  kingdom  of 
heaven,  Jesus  pointed  to  a  little  child  and  said :  "Verily  I  say 
unto  you,  except  ye  be  converted  and  become  as  little  children, 
ye  shall  not  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  heaven.  Whosoever,  there- 
fore, shall  humble  himself  as  this  little  child,  the  same  is  greatest 
in  the  kingdom  of  heaven."  Matthew  i8 : 3,  4.  They,  the  am- 
bitious and  self-satisfied  Jews,  were  to  be  converted  and  become 
lowly  in  spirit  and  meek  in  disposition  as  the  children.  The  chil- 
dren under  consideration  needed  no  conversion.  They  were  already 
members  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven.  Those  were  to  become  great 
in  the  kingdom  of  heaven  only  as  they  appropriated  the  spirit  of 
childhood  unto  themselves.  The  children  were  not  only  mem- 
bers of  the  kingdom  by  virtue  of  their  childhood,  innocence  and 
trustfulness,  but  they  were  really  the  greatest  in  the  kingdom  of 
heaven.  And  only  as  the  Jews  would  appropriate  the  lowly  child- 
like faith  of  God's  little  children  could  they  expect  to  be  great 
in  the  kingdom  of  heaven.  The  child-spirit  holds  the  first  place 
in  heaven.  "For,"  says  Jesus,  'T  say  unto  you,  that  in  heaven 
their  angels  do  always  behold  the  face  of  my  Father  which  is  in 
heaven."  Matthew  18 :  10.  What  an  impressive  thought.  "Take 
heed  that  ye  despise  not  one  of  these  little  ones."  Matthew  18 :  10. 
Can  we  despise  them  more  effectually  than  by  considering  them 
children  of  wrath  and  by  expecting  them  to  grow  up  in  sin  and 
disobedience  that  we  might  later  convert  them  by  a  powerful 
demonstration  of  saving  grace?  "To  deny  them  a  place  in  the 
church,  to  neglect  their  spiritual  and  moral  culture,  to  under- 
estimate the  value  of  their  early  aspirations  toward  God,  can  any 
form  of  despising  be  more  effectual  than  this?"  "Whoso  shall 
offend  one  of  these  little  ones  which  believe  in  me,  it  were  better 
for  him  that  a  millstone  were  hanged  about  his  neck  and  that 
he  were  drowned  in  the  depth  of  the  sea."  Matthew  18:6.  Jesus 
came  to  seek  and  to  save  that  which  was  lost.  He  desires  that 
not  one  of  His  own  spiritual  children  should  perish.  He  would 
save  the  children  from  becoming  lost.  He  would  throw  all  the 
saving  influences  around  the  growing  child  to  keep  it  as  much 
from  the  contamination  of  the  world  as  possible.  He  would 
gather    the    lambs    in    His    bosom    and    protect   them    from    the 


47 

ravages  of  wild  beasts.  No,  He  wants  them  all  kept.  Each  one 
is  precious  in  His  sight.  "Even  so  it  is  not  the  will  of  your 
Father  in  heaven  that  one  of  these  little  ones  should  perish." 
Matthew  i8 :  14. 

And  what  could  be  more  touchingly  beautiful  than  the  pic- 
ture of  Jesus  blessing  the  little  children  ?  Mark  tells  us  that  some 
mothers  "brought  young  children  to  Christ  that  He  should  touch 
them."  That  was  the  utmost  they  had  hoped.  If  the  blessed 
Master  would  only  lay  His  hands  upon  them  and  touch  them, 
they  would  be  so  grateful.  But  his  disciples,  no  doubt,  thought 
they  were  too  young  to  understand,  and  that  therefore  the  Mas- 
ter should  not  be  hindered  in  His  great  work  by  such  trifles. 
And  so  they  "rebuked  those  that  brought  them"  for  their  bold- 
ness and  their  presumption.  But  Jesus  was  displeased,  or,  as  the 
Revised  Version  has  it.  He  "was  moved  with  indignation"  and 
said :  "Suffer  the  little  children  to  come  unto  me  and  forbid 
them  not,  for  of  such  is  the  kingdom  of  heaven."  Matthew  10 :  14. 
Forbid  them  not.  Do  not  keep  them  back  or  think  them  too 
insignificant  or  too  unimportant.  For  "of  such"  is  the  kingdom 
of  heaven.  "Whosoever  shall  not  receive  the  kingdom  of  God 
as  a  little  child,  he  shall  not  enter  therein.  And  he  took  them  up 
in  his  arms,  put  his  hands  upon  them  and  blessed  them,"  Matthew 
10:  1-5,  16.  And  the  mothers'  hearts  must  have  leaped  with  joy, 
and  the  disciples  must  have  been  deeply  pained  and  humiliated 
by  their  rashness  and  their  lack  of  appreciation  of  the  Master's 
attitude.  The  spirit  of  the  children  thus  brought  was  an  emblem 
of  true  Christian  humility  and  simple,  childlike  trustfulness. 
Pious  mothers  still  desire  to  bring  their  children  to  Jesus.  And 
they  bring  them  in  secret  prayer  or  they  bring  them  through 
baptismal  consecration  or  they  bring  them  as  Hannah  brought 
the  little  Samuel  to  be  consecrated  by  public  prayer  to  His  service. 
And  Jesus  now,  as  then,  "takes  them  up  in  His  arms,  puts  his 
hands  upon  them  and  blesses  them"  by  His  spiritual  presence  and 
benediction.  "A  little  child  shall  lead  them."  Isaiah  11:6.  It 
is  still  the  same.  The  child-spirit  is  still  the  dominant  power. 
The  kingdom  of  heaven  is  still  for  such  as  have  the  spirit  of 
little  children.  They  still  teach  us  humility  and  guilelessness 
4 


48 

and   implicit   faith   and   simple   trust   in    God.     Well   could   the 
poet  say  of  them : 

"They  are  idols  of  hearts  and  of  household, 
They  are  angels  of  God  in  disguise; 
His  sunlight  still  sleeps  in  their  tresses 
His  glory  still  gleams  in  their  eyes ! 

"Oh,  these  truants  from  home  and  from  heaven, 
They  have  made  me  more  manly  and  mild ; 
And  I  know  how  Jesus  could  liken 
The  kingdom  of  God  to  a  child." 

It  is  very  evident  that  the  doctrine  of  "infant  damnation"  or 
"total  depravity"  for  children  has  no  justification  either  in 
the  words  or  in  the  example  of  Jesus.  For  Him  the  child  was 
not  an  object  of  divine  wrath,  but  of  infinite  love  and  com- 
passion. For  Him  the  best  qualification  for  spiritual  sonship 
was  the  possession  of  the  child-spirit.  If  the  spirit  of  the  child 
was  the  finest  type  of  Christian  discipleship,  then  surely  the  pos- 
sessor of  the  child-spirit — the  child  itself — must  be  a  member  of 
Christ's  spiritual  kingdom.  Christ's  view  manifestly  is  that  the 
child  of  Christian  parents  is  born  into  the  kingdom,  that  he  is  a 
member  of  the  kingdom  in  childhood  by  virtue  of  his  descent 
from  his  spiritual  ancestry,  that  the  youth  is  to  remain  in  the 
kingdom  by  voluntarily  accepting  the  spiritual  requirements  of 
adult  membership  and  that  he  is  to  remain  always  in  the  king- 
dom as  the  sheep  are  to  remain  with  the  shepherd  and  not  to 
depart  from  the  fold.  He  does  not  need  to  be  converted  into 
the  kingdom.  That  is  the  essential  requirement  of  the  renegades 
and  the  wanderers  and  the  prodigals.  It  is  the  blessed  preroga- 
tive of  the  Christian  child  to  grow  up  in  the  kingdom  and 
never  know  any  prolonged  period  of  apostasy  or  of  alienation 
from  God,  and  consequently,  never  be  under  the  painful  necessity 
of  being  ushered  into  the  kingdom  through  any  process  of  radi- 
cal conversion. 


49 


3.   The  Parables  of  Jesus  on  Salvation  througfh  Christian  Culture. 

A  number  of  parables  convey  the  same  conception  of  the  Chris- 
tian Hfe.  The  Lost  Sheep,  the  Lost  Coin  and  the  Prodigal  Son 
all  assume  that  the  normal  condition  is  not  a  lost  one.  The 
lost  had  to  be  sought  and  found.  Many  of  the  parables  about 
the  kingdom  of  heaven  in  Matthew  13  contain  the  same  under- 
lying thought.  The  sower  sows  seed  and  it  germinates  and 
brings  forth  fruit.  But  the  life  principle  is  in  the  seed  and  it 
needs  only  the  proper  conditions  of  soil  and  moisture  to  grow 
and  develop.  In  all  the  various  parables  of  the  sower  with  his 
seed  as  illustrating  the  principles  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  there 
is  either  tacitly  implied  or  definitely  expressed  the  idea  of  a 
life-principle  in  the  seed  which  is  capable  of  germinating,  the 
possibility  of  growth  and  development  under  favorable  condi- 
tions and  the  expectation  of  fruit  of  the  same  kind  as  was  po- 
tentially held  in  the  seed.  Nothing  could  be  more  suggestive  of 
the  child's  spiritual  nature  and  growth  than  the  parables  which 
speak  of  seed  and  germination,  of  growth  and  development,  of 
joy  in  expected  fruit  and  of  disappointment  in  a  harvest  of 
tares  and  weeds.  The  soil  is  the  human  soul.  The  seed  is  the 
word  of  truth  which  germinates  under  the  vivifying  influences 
of  the  spirit.  With  the  hindrance  of  choking  tares  removed 
and  under  the  energizing  influences  of  God's  Holy  Spirit  the 
budding  seed  will  grow  and  bring  forth  fruit,  "first  the  blade, 
then  the  ear,  after  that  the  full  corn  in  the  ear." 

"The  parable  of  the  Lost  Sheep  teaches  most  explicitly  that  the 
normal  condition  is  to  be  in  the  fold,  not  away  in  the 
mountains  and  lost  to  the  shepherd.  Jesus  compares  him- 
self to  a  Good  Shepherd,  who  knows  his  sheep  and  who 
is  known  of  them.  "The  sheep  hear  his  voice  and  he  call- 
eth  his  own  sheep  by  name  and  leadeth  them  out.  And 
when  he  putteth  forth  his  own  sheep  he  goeth  before  them  and 
the  sheep  follow  him :  for  they  know  his  voice."  John  10 : 3,  4. 
The  Shepherd  Psalm  conveys  the  same  beautiful  thought.  "The 
Lord  is  my  shepherd;  I  shall  not  want.     He  maketh  me  to  lie 


50 

down  in  green  pastures ;  He  leadeth  me  beside  the  still  waters. 
He  restoreth  my  soul :  He  leadeth  me  in  the  paths  of  righteous- 
ness for  his  name's  sake."  And  what  the  Good  Shepherd  is 
pleased  to  do  for  His  sheep  He  will  most  assuredly  do  for  His 
lambs.  As  He  provides  pasture  and  refreshing  waters  for  His 
sheep  so  He  does  for  the  lambs  of  His  flock.  And  as  His  protec- 
tion extends  to  all  the  grown  members  of  His  flock,  so  in  like 
manner  it  is  extended  to  the  helpless  little  lambs  which  really 
need  His  protection  and  care  more  than  the  grown  sheep  do. 
Yea,  "he  gathereth  the  lambs  in  his  bosom,"  and  carries  them  to 
safety  and  rest.  The  picture  of  Jesus  as  a  shepherd,  with  His 
shepherd's  crook  in  His  hands,  with  His  trustful  flock  around  Him 
and  with  some  helpless  little  lamb  resting  in  His  bosom,  is  strik- 
ingly emblematic  of  Christ's  attitude.  Occasionally  a  careless 
or  wilful  sheep  will  wander  away  and  become  lost,  and  then  the 
good  shepherd  will  leave  the  ninety  and  nine  in  safety  "in  the 
shelter  of  the  fold,"  and  hunt  for  the  lost  sheep  until  he  has 
found  it  and  returned  it  to  the  flock  with  rejoicing.  The  normal 
place  for  the  sheep  is  with  the  flock,  under  the  personal  care  and 
direction  of  the  shepherd.  And  this  is  peculiarly  true  of  the 
lambs.  They  belong  to  the  flock.  They  are  to  grow  up  with  the 
flock.  They  are  to  remain  under  the  careful  oversight  of  the 
shepherd.  This  is  their  normal  and  rightful  place.  And  it  is 
only  through  an  act  of  carelessness  or  wilfulness  that  an  erring 
little  lamb  would  stray  away  from  the  flock  and  become  lost. 
To  stray  away  is  the  act  of  becoming  lost.  To  stay  with  the 
flock  and  with  the  shepherd  is  the  rightful  attitude  for  the  grow- 
ing little  lamb  as  it  is  for  the  full-grown  sheep. 

The  growing  lambs  are  in  special  need  of  the  shepherd's  care 
and  oversight.  They  are  growing  and  full  of  life.  They  lack 
experience  and  wisdom.  They  are  often  wilful  and  thoughtless 
in  their  actions,  guided  more  by  impulse  and  less  by  judgment. 
And  so  the  lambs  of  God's  kingdom  are  to  be  regarded  as  the 
special  object  of  love  and  oversight  on  the  part  of  the  shepherds 
who  have  them  in  charge — parents,  teachers,  pastors  and  friends. 
And  this  is  why  Jesus  enjoined  upon  Peter,  as  one  of  his  last 
requests,  that  he  should  feed  His  lambs.     "Simon,  son  of  Jonas, 


51 

lovest  thou  me  more  than  these?  He  saith  unto  him,  Yea,  Lord 
thou  knowest  that  I  love  thee ;  He  saith  unto  him,  Feed  my  lambs." 
John  21 :  15.  Oh,  how  we  should  endeavor  to  "feed  the  lambs" 
by  proper  care  and  instruction,  by  precept  and  example,  by  all 
the  influences  God  has  given  into  our  hands,  so  that  they  may 
not  only  grow  up  as  faithful  and  dutiful  members  of  God's 
spiritual  flock,  but  that  they  may  always  remain  within  the  spir- 
itual fold  in  the  presence  of  and  under  the  loving  care  of  Jesus 
himself  as  the  Good  Shepherd ! 

The  parable  of  the  Prodigal  Son  is  perhaps  the  most  typical 
case  of  sin  and  redemption  to  be  found  throughout  the  Bible. 
The  prodigal  was  in  his  father's  household  from  his  youth  up. 
He  enjoyed  the  advantages  of  home  training  and  beautiful  sur- 
roundings. He  was  a  son  by  birth  and  by  adoption  as  well  as 
by  choice  and  election.  He  was  not  "converted"  to  sonship  from 
without.  He  was  "converted"  to  rebellion  and  prodigality  from 
within  the  kingdom.  His  rightful  and  normal  place  was  under 
his  father's  roof,  subject  to  his  father's  care  and  authority  and 
obedient  to  his  father's  will.  Through  a  deliberate  act  on  his 
part  he  conceived  the  thought  and  committed  the  deed  which  re- 
moved him  from  his  father's  house  and  presence  and  made  him 
an  alien  and  a  rebel  "in  a  far  country." 

The  "elder  son"  remained  at  home.  This  was  his  rightful  and 
proper  place.  He  enjoyed  uninterruptedly  his  father's  presence 
and  benediction.  He  may  have  had  moments  of  temporary  dis- 
obedience in  thought,  or  word  or  deed,  but  those  were  transient. 
His  fixed  and  unalterable  purpose  was  one  of  filial  regard  and 
of  ungrudging  service.  He  enjoyed  to  the  fullest  measure,  from 
his  youth  up,  all  the  wealth  of  affection  and  all  the  unbroken 
confidence  and  approval  of  personal  regard  which  a  loving  father 
could  bestow  upon  a  dutiful  son.  The  younger  son's  return  was 
the  occasion  of  calling  forth  into  tangible  expression  the  father's 
unbounded  love  and  affection.  The  elder  son  mistook  this  as 
an  act  of  partiality.  But  he  was  mistaken.  He  may  have  been 
tinappreciative  of  his  father's  less  demonstrative,  but  no  less  af- 
fectionate treatment  of  him  during  his  unbroken  intercourse  with 
him  at  home.     This  was  perhaps  natural.     We  are  all  liable  to 


52 

lack  appreciation  of  God's  goodness  and  mercy  to  the  fullest  ex- 
tent because  they  are  so  all-pervading  in  their  presence  and  so 
unbroken  in  their  beneficent  ministrations.  But  the  father  re- 
minded the  elder  son  of  his  superior  position  and  assured  him 
of  his  personal  favor  and  appreciation  by  saying:  "Son,  thou 
art  ever  with  me  and  all  that  I  have  is  thine."  His  portion  was 
the  greater  of  the  two,  his  position  the  more  to  be  envied 
and  his  uninterrupted  loyalty  the  more  to  be  commended. 

We  are  too  frequently  inclined  to  commend  the  course  of  the 
younger  in  his  act  of  complete  self-surrender  upon  his  return 
home  and  forget  the  more  praiseworthy  act  of  unbroken  loyalty  on 
the  part  of  the  elder  brother.  The  career  of  the  younger  son 
was  more  spectacular,  but  the  career  of  the  older  son  more  com- 
mendable. The  expression  of  unbounded  love  on  the  part  of  the 
father  only  threw  into  bolder  relief  the  utter  unworthiness  of  the 
prodigal's  course.  The  younger  son  was  restored  to  his  father's 
favor  and  confidence,  but  he  had  squandered  much  of  his  God- 
given  powers  and  opportunities  beyond  the  hope  of  recovery.  He 
was  poorer  in  every  way  for  his  painful  experience.  The  elder 
son  was  richer  in  every  way  because  of  his  loyalty  and  service  to 
his  father.  Sin  is  always  a  prodigal.  It  wastes  and  dissipates 
material  and  spiritual  "goods"  with  lavish  prodigality.  The 
younger  son  never  again  could  enjoy  to  the  full  the  possession  of 
his  once  undiminished  powers  because  he  had  squandered  them. 
The  elder  son  had  always  been  with  his  father  and  all  his  father's 
possessions  were  his  for  legitimate  use  and  enjoyment.  The  one 
important  fact  to  remember  is  that  both  sons  were  raised  in  the 
father's  house  through  a  process  of  Christian  growth  and  edu- 
cation and  that  both  had  the  opportunity  of  enjoying  a  father's 
continual  presence  and  abiding  love  and  care  without  the  neces- 
sity of  being  first  brought  into  the  blessed  estate  of  sonship  by  a 
radical  change  through  conversion.  One  only  needed  such  a 
radical  change  because  of  voluntary  disobedience.  Both  were 
sons  through  Christian  growth  and  training  and  might  have  re- 
mained such  to  the  end  of  life. 

And  is  it  not  pathetic  to  think  that  some  prefer  a  state  of 
rebellion  and  alienation  to  one  of  sonship  and  filial  loyalty?     The 


53 

church  deserves  the  greatest  praise  for  its  unselfish  efforts  to 
redeem  the  prodigals  of  the  world  and  restore  them  to  their 
rightful  places  in  God's  spiritual  household.  But  are  we  sure 
we  are  putting  forth  our  best  efforts  to  bring  up  our  children 
in  such  a  manner  that  they  may  be  spared  the  necessity  of  a 
prodigal's  experience?  To  save  a  prodigal  is  noble.  To  keep 
a  son  from  becoming  a  prodigal  is  nobler.  Dr.  Anthony  in 
his  "Children's  Covenant"  puts  this  thought  admirably  thus:  "We 
ought  to  do  all  we  can  for  all  sorts  of  sinners,  but  we  ought 
to  do  more  than  we  ever  thought  of  doing  for  the  children, 
'whose  angels  do  always  behold  the  face  of  our  Father  in  heaven.' 
To  go  after  hardened  sinners  to  the  neglect  of  children  is  the 
worst  possible  policy.  The  drum,  the  tambourine,  the  f^ag,  the 
march  on  the  street,  the  song  and  testimony,  have  done  great 
good.  When  we  shall  enlist  a  like  zeal  in  saving  the  children 
we  shall  do  a  much  greater  good." 

4.    The  Case  of  Timothy  as  a  Product  of  Christian  Culture. 

Timothy  is  a  striking  illustration  of  the  possibilities  of  careful 
home  training  for  discipleship  and  for  service.  In  many  of  the 
cases  of  New  Testament  conversion  which  might  be  profitably 
considered,  the  motives  and  influences  at  work  are  usually  indi- 
cated and  the  manner  of  the  spirit's  operation  is  usually  sug- 
gested. But  in  the  case  of  Timothy  we  are  introduced  to  one, 
not  as  an  opposer  of  Jesus  nor  as  an  indifferent  spectator,  nor  as 
an  inquirer  after  truth  and  the  way  of  life,  but  as  a  Christian 
with  opinions  more  or  less  clear  and  with  convictions  more  or  less 
pronounced.  He  had  evidently  reached  his  position  through 
a  process  of  gradual  growth  and  development  under  the  influences 
of  wise  and  loving  home  training. 

Timothy  was  born  at  Lystra  or  possibly  at  Derbe.  His  mother 
was  named  Eunice  and  his  grandmother  Lois.  His  father  was 
a  Greek.  He  was  early  instructed  in  the  sacred  writings  of 
his  mother's  religion,  she  having  been  a  daughter  of  Israel.  A 
beautiful  tribute  is  given  to  pious  home  training  by  Paul  in  his 
letter  to  Timothy:     "But  abide  thou  in  the  things  which  thou 


54 

hast  learned  and  hast  been  assured  of,  knowing  of  whom  thou 
hast  learned  them ;  and  that  from  a  babe  thou  hast  known  the  Holy 
Scriptures  which  are  able  to  make  thee  wise  unto  salvation  through 
faith  which  is  in  Christ  Jesus."  II  Timothy  3:15.  And  again: 
"Having  been  reminded  of  the  unfeigned  faith  that  is  in  thee, 
which  dwelt  first  in  thy  grandmother  Lois  and  thy  mother  Eunice 
and  I  am  persuaded  in  thee  also."  II  Timothy  i :  5.  These  pas- 
sages and  others  like  them  give  us  a  picture  of  a  home  in  which 
God  was  magnified  and  honored ;  in  which  the  Scriptures  were 
given  first  place  in  religious  culture  and  in  which  the  inter- 
ests of  the  inner  life  were  exalted  above  the  interests  of  the  outer 
life.  Reverence  for  holiness,  belief  in  prayer  and  love  for  God's 
word  were  inculcated  from  childhood  up.  Paul,  in  writing  to 
Timothy,  calls  him :  "My  true  child  in  the  faith."  And  in  writ- 
ing the  Corinthians  he  uses  these  words  concerning  his  faith- 
ful and  influential  coworker  in  the  Gospel :  "My  beloved  and 
faithful  child  in  the  Lord."  It  is  universally  held  that  this  whole 
family  received  the  glad  tidings  with  "unfeigned  faith"  on  the 
occasion  of  Paul's  first  visit  to  Lystra  and  Derbe,  and  that  the 
young  Timothy  thus  became  in  reality  Paul's  "true  child  in  the 
faith."  Timothy  is  evidently  a  product  of  careful  Christian  home 
training  and  of  intelligent  acceptance  of  God's  gracious  influences 
without  any  negative  period  of  waywardness  or  any  striking  radi- 
cal change  in  conversion.  He  was  familiar  with  the  Scriptures 
from  his  youth  up.  He  was  open  and  receptive  and  gladly  and 
cheerfully  came  into  the  full  consciousness  of  his  spiritual  life 
by  voluntarily  accepting  Jesus  Christ!  as  his  personal  Saviour  and 
friend.  And  with  more  mothers  and  grandmothers  like  Eunice 
and  Lois  and  with  more  careful  and  loving  home  training  in 
moral  and  spiritual  things,  such  as  Timothy  received,  there  would 
be  still  larger  numbers  to  come  into  the  kingdom  by  the  gradual 
but  no  less  effective  process  of  Salvation  through  Christian  cul- 
ture and  Christian  education. 

In  this  connection,  Dr.  Noble,  in  his  "New  Testament  Con- 
versions," has  these  appropriate  remarks  to  offer:  "It  is  both  in 
accordance  with  the  facts  and  philosophy  of  faith  and  in  line 
with  the  evident  purpose  of  God,  that  children  in  Christian  homes 


55 

should  be  so  trained  in  the  nurture  and  admonition  of  the  Lord 
that  when  the  time  comes  for  confessing  Christ  before  the  world 
there  shall  be  no  central  truths  to  be  learned  and  no  gross  sins 
to  be  thrown  off,  but  only  a  simple,  easy,  forward  step  along 
the  path  on  which  they  have  already  been  moving,  into  the 
open  fellowship  of  all  who  love  the  Son  of  God  and  are  trying 
to  do  His  will  in  the  world.  It  is  because  Timothy  came  into 
discipleship  in  this  way  that  his  example  is  so  full  of  meaning. 
There  are  homes  in  these  modern  times  which  are  doing  the  same 
work  in  the  same  beautiful  spirit,  which  was  done  in  that  ancient 
home  by  Lois  and  Eunice.  And  when  there  are  more  of  these 
homes,  then  there  will  be  more  members  in  all  of  our  churches, 
who  shall  have  come  into  the  faith  as  blossoms  come  in  fulness 
of  beauty,  under  the  genial  breath  of  the  spring,  or  fruit  comes 
to  the  vine  under  the  ripening  warmth  of  summer." 

n.     The  Testimony  of  Experience  for  Salvation 
through  Christian  Culture. 

Not  only  are  there  abundant  Scriptural  warrants  for  belief  in 
the  doctrine  of  conversion  through  gradual  growth  and  develop- 
ment but  the  testimony  of  youthful  Christian  experience  is 
unmistakable  along  the  same  lines.  Prof.  Starbuck  in  his 
"Psychology  of  Religion"  has  gathered  together  a  vast  amount 
of  valuable  material  bearing  on  this  subject.  He  sent  out  letters 
of  inquiry  to  men  and  women  of  all  nationalities  and  of  practically 
all  types  of  religious  belief,  asking  specific  questions  concerning 
their  religious  beliefs  and  experiences  during  childhood  and  youth. 
Two  hundred  and  thirty-seven  responded.  Among  this  number 
were  representatives  of  the  following  religious  bodies  :  Methodists, 
Friends,  Presbyterians,  Episcopalians,  Congregationalists,  German 
Reformed,  Lutheran,  Baptist,  Moravian,  Catholic,  Unitarian,  Uni- 
versalist  and  others. 

The  list  is  certainly  representative.  Many  of  the  respondents 
were  students  in  American  institutions  of  learning.  The  age  of 
the  persons  replying  varied  from  sixteen  to  forty  years  and  over. 


56 

These  replies  clearly  proved,  if  further  proof  than  individual 
experience  were  necessary,  that  the  careful  training  of  children 
in  childhood  and  youth  do  have  an  important  bearing  upon  the 
type  of  religion  experienced  later  in  life.  Most  of  the  respondents 
report  careful  religious  teaching  at  home  and  in  Sunday  School 
during  the  period  of  childhood  and  youth,  with  considerable  regu- 
larity of  habit  in  attending  church  services,  prayer  meetings, 
family  prayers  and  other  like  religious  observances.  One  of  the 
impressive  facts  brought  out  in  these  representative  replies  is  that 
religious  feelings  develop  very  early  in  the  conscious  life  of  the 
child  and  that  the  earlier  types  of  religious  feeling  are  extremely 
simple  and  realistic.  The  idea  of  God  is  usually  vivid  but  rather 
crude  in  form.  God  is  regarded  as  having  human  form  but  of 
larger  size  and  hovering  above  the  clouds  or  seated  in  an 
imaginable  heaven,  always  ready  and  willing  to  answer  the  most 
trivial  requests  in  prayer.  He  is  pictured  very  distinctly  as  a 
personal  God.  The  sense  of  right  and  wrong  also  develops  early 
and  is  one  of  the  most  potent  facts  in  childhood  religion.  In  fact, 
the  child-conscience  is  very  sensitive  and  indicates  a  lively  moral 
activity  on  the  part  of  the  growing  religious  consciousness. 
Among  the  facts  brought  out  very  clearly  in  these  numerous 
replies  are:  (i)  The  reality  and  vividness  of  the  religious  life 
of  the  child;  (2)  The  importance  and  value  of  early  Christian 
training;  (3)  The  possibility  of  religious  growth  and  develop- 
ment on  the  part  of  the  growing  child  without  any  marked 
crisis  or  transition  and  without  any  noticeable  element  of  strain 
and  conflict. 

i*     The  Reality  and  Vividness  of  the  Child's  Religious  Life. 

The  child's  religious  life  is  real  and  vivid.  His  imagination 
is  most  active,  and  hence  his  religious  conceptions  are  extremely 
vivid  and  distinct.  Such  expressions  occur  frequently  in  the  re- 
plies :  'T  told  God  many  things  I  would  not  tell  my  parents." 
"I  loved  Jesus  with  all  the  fervor  of  a  child's  heart."  "The  sense 
that  God  was  watching  over  me  frightened  me  in  the  night.  I 
prayed,  and  repeated,  T  am  Jesus'  little  lamb,'  and  felt  secure." 


57 

"I  remember  a  sense  of  duty  influencing  my  childhood  before  I 
was  four  years  old."  Another  one  wrote  relative  to  the  time 
when  religious  feelings  first  develop :  "I  do  not  remember  the 
time  when  I  wasn't  vitally  concerned  in  religion.  I  think  re- 
ligion began  with  my  birth."  One  writes  thus :  "I  could  not 
sleep  until  I  had  said  my  evening  prayers."  And  still  another  one 
wrote  concerning  a  sensitive  conscience :  "When  seven  I  stole 
some  cookies.  I  worried  over  it  for  three  days.  I  confessed 
to  God  and  wept  and  prayed,  but  felt  that  something  more  was 
necessary.  Finally  I  confessed  to  mother  and  was  forgiven." 
In  this  connection  it  might  be  in  place  to  refer  to  John  Fiske's 
youthful  conception  of  God  as  a  big  man  sitting  on  a  little 
platform  up  in  the  sky  with  an  open  book  before  him  in  which 
he  recorded  the  good  and  evil  acts  of  all  his  people.  For  his 
youthful  mind  God  kept  a  faithful  record  of  everything  said  and 
done.  This  was  to  be  used  in  the  day  of  judgment.  Who  will 
say  that  the  normal  child  is  not  intensely  religious  ?  And  who  will 
want  to  despise  the  simplicity  and  reality  and  intensity  of  the 
child's  religious  life?     To  the  child  it  means  infinitely  much. 

2.     The  Importance  of  Early  Religious  Training, 

The  supreme  importance  of  early  religious  training  and  sur- 
roundings is  impressively  taught  by  a  large  number  of  these  re- 
plies. The  child  Samuel  was  dedicated  to  God  by  his  pious  mother 
before  he  was  born,  and  early  brought  to  the  service  of  the  temple. 
Need  we  wonder  that  the  Lord  called  him  early  and  that  the  old 
prophet  Eli  perceived  at  last  that  the  Lord  had  indeed  called  the 
child?  The  early  religious  training  of  the  young  Timothy  by 
his  saintly  mother  and  grandmother  made  his  religious  life  one 
of  normal  growth  and  development  with  the  steady  growth  and 
development  of  his  other  unfolding  powers.  One  person  writes : 
"Mother  taught  me  to  pray  at  her  knee  and  I  always  had  a 
whispered  prayer  that  none  but  God  could  understand.  When 
I  did  anything  wrong,  mother  required  me  to  seek  forgiveness. 
The  change  from  careless,  indifferent  childhood  to  earnest,  warm 
interest  in  God's  work  was  very  gradual  and  very  natural,  after 


58 

the  good  training  I  received."  One  young  man  writes  thus : 
^'Mother  was  patient  and  gentle  with  me.  I  had  church  and 
Sunday  School  associations  of  the  pleasantest  kind.  I  was  not 
taught  anything  about  hell  and  satan.  I  have  not  changed  my 
childhood  phrase,  Our  Father  in  Heaven,  except  to  widen  the 
term."  And  still  another  one  writes  of  his  beautiful  home  in- 
fluences :  "I  had  God-fearing  parents  and  was  surrounded  by  all 
the  influences  which  go  to  make  Godly  character.  From  infancy 
I  was  taught  to  believe  that  I  belonged  to  the  Saviour  and  that  He 
loved  me.  My  delight  in  Christian  thought  has  changed  with  the 
passing  years  only  to  become  intensified."  Who  can  estimate  the 
value  of  such  surroundings  to  the  development  of  a  normal  Chris- 
tian character?  Prof.  Starbuck  says:  "It  often  happens  that 
the  religion  of  a  child  is  an  atmosphere  which  it  breathes,  so 
wholesome  and  so  enlivening,  that  he  takes  it  up  and  works  it  over 
into  his  very  being."  And  this  sort  of  religious  life  is  the  most 
vital  and  the  most  desirable  because  so  all-pervading  and 
genuine. 

The  reason  that  some  children  of  Christian  families  and  with 
Christian  training  do  not  develop  normally  and  healthily  is  due 
to  the  fact  of  foolish  and  unwise  religious  teaching.  Thus  a 
sensitive  nature  in  youth  was  unduly  disturbed  and  made  ex- 
tremely unhappy  by  the  following  incident:  "A  Sunday  School 
teacher  tried  to  impress  my  unworthiness  and  sin  upon  me  and 
told  me  that  I  would  be  lost  forever  if  I  was  not  converted. 
For  three  years  I  waited  in  misery  of  mind  for  the  expected  con- 
version. Fortunately  a  dear  friend  explained  that  unless  I  had 
done  something  very  wrong  or  had  some  heathen  beliefs  to  cast 
aside,  all  I  needed  was  to  make  a  public  avowal  of  my  faith  and 
purpose.  I  was  tremendously  relieved  and  joined  the  church  in 
a  month."  An  unpardonable  mental  anguish  was  caused  in  this 
sensitive  soul  by  the  foolish  and  one-sided  conceptions  of  the  re- 
'ligious  life  on  the  part  of  the  Sunday  School  teacher,  which  was 
presented  to  this  delicate  young  soul.  An  abnormal  and  unnatural 
experience  was  prescribed  for  this  young  child  of  faith,  and  when 
it  refused  to  come  it  brought  unhappiness  and  misery  and  even 
despair.     Another  one  had  this  unhappy  experience :  "My  parents 


59 

and  teachers  impressed  upon  me  that  I  must  believe  all  or  nothing. 
It  did  not  take  me  long  to  decide  which."  This  insistence  on  the 
unqualified  acceptance  of  articles  of  belief  led  to  unbelief.  Still 
another  one  was  made  very  unhappy  by  extreme  strictness  in  the 
observance  of  the  Sabbath.  He  writes  after  this  fashion :  "On 
Sundays  we  could  not  whittle,  nor  go  faster  than  a  walk,  nor 
go  down  to  the  river,  nor  laugh  or  play  in  any  way.  No  one 
who  has  not  passed  through  it  can  imagine  how  I  felt  as  Satur- 
day night  drew  on.  In  addition  to  the  torture  of  church  and 
Sunday  School  we  were  obliged  to  commit  to  memory  whole 
psalms,  chapters  of  the  Bible  and  hymns ;  and  the  thing  I  worst  of 
all  detested  was  the  reading  of  certain  so-called  religious  books." 
Such  unwise  and  unlovely  treatment  of  childhood  is  almost  as 
bad,  or  possibly  even  worse,  than  absolute  neglect  in  the  matter 
of  religious  training.  It  invariably  leads  to  revolt  and  hatred  of 
all  things  religious  and  not  infrequently  blights  the  growing  re- 
ligious consciousness  of  the  child  for  life,  as  in  the  case  of  Robert 
Ingersoll. 

3.     The  Possibility  of  a.  Gradual  Growth  into  the  Fulness  of  the 
Religious  Life  without  a  Radical  Change  in  Conversion. 

The  possibility  of  a  gradual  growth  and  development  from 
childhood  religion  to  maturity  of  faith  in  adults  has  been  im- 
pressively demonstrated  by  some  of  the  testimony  given  in  the 
previous  paragraphs.  The  child's  religious  life  may  and  frequently 
does  dawn  at  a  very  early  age.  Under  proper  environments  and 
with  wise  direction  such  spiritual  activities  may  grow  and  develop 
without  any  abrupt  or  sudden  change  into  the  clearer  and  more 
thoughtful  form  of  the  mature  Christian's  faith.  That  there  are 
periods  of  intensified  religious  activity,  and  not  unfrequently  times 
of  doubt  and  uncertainty  and  seasons  of  unrest  and  strain  in 
the  religious  development  of  a  considerable  number  of  earnest 
natures,  cannot  be  doubted.  There  are  sometimes  assignable 
reasons  for  such  uneven  and  spasmodic  religious  development 
due  to  temperament,  unwise  religious  teaching  or  extremes  of  reli- 
gious surroundings.     As  in  the  natural  world,  so  in  the  spiritual 


6o 

world,  there  are  sometimes  seasons  of  more  rapid  growth  and 
expansion.  But  that  does  not  alter  the  fact  that  many  evenly  bal- 
anced natures  pass,  by  slow  and  almost  imperceptible  changes, 
from  the  simple,  childlike  faith  of  childhood  to  the  intelligent 
and  reasoned  faith  of  maturer  years.  One  correspondent  of  Prof. 
Starbuck's  puts  this  thought  in  this  way:  "As  I  grew  older,  and 
read  more  and  was  guided  and  strengthened  by  parents  and 
teachers,  I  gradually  came  to  understand  what  Christianity  means 
and  to  trust  it.  I  had  religious  convictions  from  childhood.  Their 
influence  on  me  grew  as  my  love  and  Qiristian  surroundings  grew, 
and  gradually  shaped  my  spiritual  life."  And  another  one  writes 
thus :  "Always  since  my  early  years  I  have  felt  myself  a  child 
of  God.     My  grozvth  has  been  even  from  childhood." 

The  harmonious  development  of  the  religious  life  of  the  gradual- 
growth  type,  in  which  a  high  degree  of  spiritual  perfection  is 
attained  as  naturally  and  easily  as  a  plant  unfolds,  is  beautifully 
illustrated  in  the  case  of  Dr.  Edward  Everett  Hale.  His  strength 
and  symmetry  of  character  need  no  emphasis  at  the  hands  of 
any  one.  He  writes  concerning  his  own  spiritual  experience  as 
follows :  "I  observe  with  profound  regret  the  religious  struggles 
which  come  into  many  biographies  as  if  almost  essential  to  the 
formation  of  a  hero.  I  ought  to  speak  of  these,  to  say  that  any 
man  has  an  advantage  not  to  be  estimated,  who  is  born,  as  I 
was,  into  a  family  where  the  religion  is  simple  and  rational ;  who 
is  trained  in  the  theory  of  such  a  religion  so  that  he  never  knows, 
for  an  hour,  what  these  religious  or  irreligious  struggles  are.  I 
always  knew  God  loved  me,  and  I  was  always  grateful  to  Him  for 
the  world  He  placed  me  in.  I  always  liked  to  tell  Him  so,  and  was 
always  glad  to  receive  His  suggestions  to  me."  This  is  sane 
Christian  living.  This  is  a  beautiful  example  of  salvation  by 
Christian  culture. 

And  that  many  children  are  thus  brought  into  the  kingdom  is 
abundantly  proved  by  statistics.  It  is  said  that  not  one  in  ten 
members  of  the  Moravian  communion  can  fix  on  any  precise  point 
of  time  when  he  became  a  Christian.  Of  thirty-four  candidates 
for  the  ministry  of  the  English  Wesleyan  church  who  were  re- 
'cently  called  upon  to  relate  their  religious  experience,  considerably 


6i 

less  than  half  could  mention  any  definite  time  or  place  of  conver- 
sion, while  many  distinctly  testified  that  their  religious  life  had 
been  a  gradual  growth  from  childhood.  Probably  the  large 
majority  of  members  in  the  non-revival  churches,  especially  in 
German  countries  and  in  German-speaking  churches,  have  never 
known  any  special  time  of  crisis  in  their  spiritual  lives  and  can 
point  to  no  special  place  or  time  of  any  radical  change  and  yet 
they  know  themselves  to  be  members  of  Christ's  spiritual  kingdom 
by  the  witness  of  the  spirit  which  he  has  given  them  in  a  life  of 
simple  faith  and  childlike  trust  in  their  heavenly  Father.  And 
some  of  the  sweetest  and  rarest  Christians  whom  it  has  ever 
been  my  lot  to  know  came  into  the  church  in  this  way.  What 
a  tender  thought  to  think  that  the  gracious  influences  of  the  Holy 
Spirit  may  be  present  in  the  unfolding  processes  of  the  child's 
moral  nature  from  the  first  glimpses  of  consciousness  and  be  con- 
tinued through  all  the  changing  scenes!  of  life  to  its  closing  hour. 
"Lo,  I  am  with  you  alway,  even  to  the  end  of  the  world,"  were 
the  comforting  words  of  the  risen  Saviour. 

What  a  blessed  assurance  this  is  for  large  numbers  of  earnest 
disciples  of  the  Master,  who  have  no  consciousness  of  any  sudden 
or  radical  change  in  their  Christian  development,  but  who  know 
themselves  nevertheless  here  and  now  as  belonging  to  the  Lord, 
that  their  quiet  uneventful  life  of  simple  faith  and  trust  in  God, 
from  childhood  up,  is  just  as  pleasing  and  acceptable  to  God  as 
those  of  a  more  radical  experience.  There  are  thousands  who 
know  of  no  strain  in  their  lives,  who  have  no  remembrance  of  any 
continued  state  of  disobedience,  who  always  sought  to  do  the  right, 
as  they  understood  it,  and  who  always  gladly  accepted  new  duties 
and  new  responsibilities  with  increased  light,  and  who  thus  simply 
grew  gradually  but  surely  and  unmistakably  into  the  full  stature 
of  their  Christian  manhood. 

ni.    The  View  of  the  Best  Modern  Religious  Teachers, 

The  view  of  conversion  as  a  process  of  gradual  growth  and  de- 
velopment along  the  lines  of  the  child's  normal  religious  activities 
best  meets  the  requirements  of  modem  religious  education  and 


62 

modern  religious  thought.  It  opens  the  way  for  the  wisest 
methods  of  Christian  culture  and  education  by  laying  great  stress 
upon  the  necessity  of  proper  religious  training  for  the  growing 
Christian  child.  Assuming  on  the  one  hand  the  existence  in  the 
child  of  an  imiat£_religious  nature,  implanted  at  birth  as  part  of 
his  spiritual  inheritance,  and,  on  the  other  hand,  the  continual 
presence  and  activity  of  the  divine  spirit  in  the  growth  and  develop- 
ment of  the  child's  spiritual  nature  through  wise  and  sympathetic 
Christian  training,  this  view  of  the  child's  salvation  lays  due  stress 
upon  the  supreme  value  of  proper  religious  influences  in  the 
family,  in  the  school,  in  the  church  and  in  the  child's  social 
surroundings  as  "saving  agencies,"  to  keep  the  child  in  the  paths 
of  uprightness  and  virtue  by  helping  him  to  become  established 
in  good  moral  habits  and  in  strong,  positive  Christian  principles, 
and  thus  save  him  from  the  necessity  of  a  radical  moral  change 
in  conversion. 

That  large  portions  of  the  Christian  church  should  have  been 
somewhat  slow  to  accept  this  view  of  the  child's  spiritual  develop- 
ment is  perhaps  natural  and  easily  explained.  The  aggressive 
campaign  against  the  corruption  and  moral  filth  of  the  Roman 
Empire  by  the  Apostolic  church  made  it  necessary  to  use  the 
terms  of  conversion  which  imply  a  radical  transformation  of  life 
and  character.  Surely  the  Roman  Empire  needed  a  "new  birth" 
in  the  most  radical  sense  of  the  term.  The  surrounding  nations 
needed  a  complete  moral  transformation  no  less  urgently.  The 
language  of  Scripture  specially  intended  for  the  conversion  of  the 
adult  members  of  non-Christian  peoples  to  Christianity  thus  came 
to  be  used  by  the  church  for  all  classes  and  conditions  of  people 
indiscriminately.  Elementar}^  catechisms  were  prepared  and  sys- 
tems of  Christian  thought  developed  which  laid  great  stress  upon 
the  necessity  of  a  radical  moral  transformation  for  membership  in 
the  brotherhood  of  Christian  believers.  The  terms  thus  used  and 
the  view  of  conversion  thus  advocated,  so  necessary  and  so 
appropriate  under  the  conditions  as  they  then  existed,  gradually 
came  to  be  applied  indiscriminately  to  the  spiritual  requirements 
of  all  classes  and  conditions  of  people.  There  was  no  effort  made 
to  any  extent  to  distinguish  between  the  spiritual  conditions  of 


63 

the  heathen  or  the  non-Christian  population  and  the  carefully 
trained  children  in  Christian  families.  All  were  under  the  equal 
necessity  of  a  moral  regeneration  and  only  one  type  of  experience 
was  considered  acceptable.  There  was  supposed  to  be  only  one 
process  of  salvation,  and  that  was  the  process  of  the  "new  birth," 
and  the  hardened  sinner  and  the  tender  child  alike  were  expected 
to  conform  to  this  prescribed  method.  However  carefully  chil- 
dren might  be  trained  in  religious  matters  and  however  gracious 
they  might  appear  in  disposition  or  lovable  in  Christian  traits, 
they  were  nevertheless  usually  regarded  by  the  Christian  church 
as  incapable  of  any  good  moral  acts  or  of  being  pleasing  and 
acceptable  in  the  sight  of  God  until  they  were  converted  and  had 
passed  through  the  transforming  experiences  of  the  "new  birth." 
This  altogether  too  widely  accepted  view  of  the  child's  spiritual 
requirements  regarded  his  normal  condition  as  one  of  wayward- 
ness and  alienation  from  God,  imposed  arbitrary  and  abnormal 
conditions  for  his  spiritual  growth  and  development,  ignored  the 
inherent  impulses  and  aspirations  of  the  child  to  faith  and  trust- 
fulness in  God,  so  clearly  taught  by  Scripture  and  experience, 
and  therefore  frequently  wrought  untold  moral  suffering  and 
confusion  for  sensitive  and  serious-minded  children  and  parents  as 
well.  This  has  been  particularly  true  in  those  Protestant  denomina- 
tions which  have  always  emphasized  strongly  the  revival  or  emo- 
tional type  of  conversion  as  necessary  for  entrance  to  the  Christian 
life. 

J.    Horace  Bushnell  on  ''Christian  Culture/* 

Horace  Bushnell  was  the  first  modem  Christian  preacher  and 
educator  of  any  prominence  who  recognized  the  natural  and  in- 
herent religiousness  of  the  average  Christian  child  and  who  sought 
to  uphold  the  proposition  that  children  could  be  trained  and  edu- 
cated in  the  spirit  and  teachings  of  the  Christian  religion  without 
knowing  any  negative  period  of  conscious  waywardness  and  sin- 
fulness. In  his  epoch-making  volume  on  "Christian  Culture"  he 
contended  "that  the  child  is  to  grow  up  a  Christian  and  never 
know  himself  as  being  otherwise."     This  proposition  embodied 


64 

what  he  considered  the  true  idea  of  Christian  education.  Says 
Bushnell :  "The  aim,  effort  and  expectation  should  be  not,  as 
is  commonly  assumed,  that  the  child  is  to  grow  up  in  sin,  to  be 
converted  after  he  comes  to  mature  age ;  but  that  he  is  to  open 
on  the  world  as  one  that  is  spiritually  renewed,  not  remember- 
ing the  time  when  he  went  through  a  technical  experience,  but 
seemingly  rather  to  have  loved  what  is  good  from  his  earliest 
years."  This  surely  seems  a  reasonable  proposition ;  and  to  us 
who  were  taught  to  know  and  love  the  Lord  from  childhood  up 
there  is  nothing  new  or  disturbing  in  it.  And  yet  Dr.  Bushnell 
was  harshly  and  even  bitterly  criticised  for  the  views  set  forth 
in  his  book  because  many  good  Christian  people  thought  his  con- 
tention made  altogether  too  little  of  the  terrible  fact  of  the  child's 
sinful  and  depraved  nature  and,  therefore,  underestimated  the 
supreme  importance  of  the  Holy  Spirit's  work  in  the  transform- 
ing processes  of  the  "new  birth."  The  possibility  of  gradual 
growth  and  development  in  the  child's  spiritual  life  seemed  to 
many  earnest  people  dangerous  because  this  would  make  the 
process  of  salvation  too  natural  and  human  and  rob  it  of  its 
supernatural  significance.  Conversion,  as  viewed  by  many  peo- 
ple, is  a  supernatural  interposition  on  the  part  of  God's  spirit 
for  the  regeneration  of  the  spiritual  nature  in  the  "new  birth," 
and  therefore  just  as  necessary  for  children  as  for  adult 
members  of  the  Christian  community.  The  contention  that  for 
children  of  Christian  parents  and  with  Christian  training  there 
could  be  salvation  through  the  slower  and  less  striking  processes 
of  growth  and  development,  seemed  to  many  in  the  days  of  Dr. 
Bushnell,  as  it  does  to  many  people  in  our  own  day,  to  minimize 
the  importance  of  God's  intervention  in  the  redemption  of  sin 
and  to  magnify,  on  the  other  hand,  the  importance  of  Christian 
training  in  the  salvation  and  spiritual  redemption  of  children. 

But  Dr.  Bushnell  was  careful  not  to  ignore  the  terrible  fact 
of  sin  nor  the  absolute  necessity  of  God's  spirit  in  the  Christian 
training  of  children.  He  was  fully  aware  of  the  inherent  evil  in 
children.  He  recognized  the  presence  in  them  of  many  sinful 
and  conflicting  impulses  and  tendencies.  Whether  these  are  to  be 
regarded    as   original    sin   or   as    inherited   tendencies   to   sin   is 


65 

immaterial  for  the  views  under  consideration.  Dr.  Bushnell  gave 
full  recognition  to  the  inherent  tendencies  to  waywardness  and 
depravity  in  children,  but  he  also  recognized,  as  very  few  Christian 
educators  had  done  before  him,  the  strong,  inherent  impulses  to 
goodness  and  generosity  in  the  normal  child.  He  was  fully 
aware  of  the  fact  that  the  child  is  not  all  good  and  not  all  evil ; 
that  the  child  has  many  tendencies  to  evil  and  also  many  impulses 
to  good,  but  that  in  the  normal  child  of  Christian  parents  the 
noble  and  worthy  impulses  predominate.  Dr.  Bushnell  was  one 
of  the  first  modern  Christian  teachers  and  educators  to  seize  upon 
the  important  fact  that  the  normal  child  has  a  religious  nature, 
as  he  has  an  intellectual  and  a  social  nature.  This  is  a  part 
of  his  natural  birthright.  It  is  God-given,  as  his  other  faculties 
are  God-given.  His  religious  nature  grows  and  develops  through 
proper  training  and  culture,  as  his  other  faculties  grow  and  de- 
velop through  training  and  education.  The  operation  of  the  Holy 
Spirit,  in  this  process  of  growth  and  development  of  the  child's 
spiritual  nature,  is  assumed  as  just  as  necessary  and  just  as 
indispensable  as  it  is  in  the  process  of  the  "new  birth"  through 
supernatural  interposition.  And  is  it  any  less  wonderful  or  any 
less  divine  that  the  Holy  Spirit  should  direct  and  guide  the 
growing  activities  of  the  child's  spiritual  nature  to  high  and 
holy  uses  through  careful  Christian  training  than  that  it  should  be 
able  to  transform  a  confirmed  sinner  to  a  child  of  God  by  a 
sudden  act  of  conversion?  According  to  the  contentions  of 
Bushnell  the  presence  and  power  of  the  Holy  Spirit  were  assumed 
as  absolutely  indispensable  in  the  proper  training  and  develop- 
ment of  the  child's  spiritual  nature.  But  with  the  assistance  and 
cooperation  of  the  Holy  Spirit  in  the  careful  training  of  the 
child's  religious  nature  through  Christian  culture  it  was  claimed 
that  the  inherent  tendencies  to  waywardness  and  sin  on  the  part 
of  the  child  could  be  overcome  and  that  the  child  could  be  so 
trained  that  it  would  "grow  up  a  Christian  and  never  know  himself 
as  having  been  otherwise." 

This  is  surely  not  an  unreasonable  proposition.  Nor  does  it 
ignore  the  supreme,  importance  of  God's  part  in  the  operation,  or 
the  terrible   fact  oi   sin  and  depravity  in  the  child.     It  simply 


66 

magnifies  the  presence  and  power  of  God's  spirit  to  the  glory  of 
His  name  and  the  redemption  of  souls.  However  depraved  and 
sinful  the  child's  tendencies  and  impulses  may  be,  the  vivifying 
and  energizing  power  of  God's  Holy  Spirit  in  the  careful  training 
of  the  youthful  mind  is  abundantly  able  to  overcome  the  inherent 
evil  tendencies  and  to  "renew"  and  "transform"  the  child's  moral 
nature  through  the  slow  but  no  less  wonderful  and  mysterious 
processes  of  gradual  growth  and  development  so  that  he  will  need 
no  "new  birth"  by  sudden  transformation  in  later  years.  We 
are  dealing  with  spiritual  things.  We  are  just  beginning  to 
recognize  the  significance  of  the  child's  spiritual  nature  in  its 
beautiful  exhibitions  of  Christian  traits.  The  child's  spiritual 
nature,  whether  a  part  of  its  original  birthright  or  imparted  to 
it  by  the  Holy  Spirit,  is  capable  of  responding  to  the  moulding 
influences  of  the  Spirit  at  a  very  early  age.  And  why  should  it  not 
be  the  normal  way,  to  have  the  child  develop  and  grow  into 
spiritual  manhood  under  the  Spirit's  guidance  rather  than  be 
abandoned  by  the  Spirit  to  the  world  and  the  devil  until  the 
day  of  its  redemption  in  sudden  conversion?  As  Prof.  Coe  says 
in  his  "Education  in  Religion  and  Morals" :  "Many  children  of 
Christian  parents  do,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  reach  Christian  man- 
hood in  this  way ;  taught  from  the  start  to  count  themselves 
children  of  God,  from  stage  to  stage  of  their  growth  they  exercise 
a  faith  that  is  proportional  to  their  powers.  These  represent  the 
normal  development  of  a  child  under  Christian  influences.  The 
fact  that  many  children  who  are  brought  up  in  Christian  homes 
go  away  from  God  does  not  indicate  that  Jesus  wis  hi  error 
in  his  view  of  the  child  and  his  development." 

2.     Dr.  Hibbard  on  "  The  Religion  of  Childhood.*' 

Another  modem  writer  on  religious  education,  who  has  strongly 
advocated  the  same  views  of  Christian  development  through  train- 
ing and  culture,  is  Dr.  J.  G.  Hibbard.  He  was  a  Methodist 
minister  and  educator  and,  in  his  book  on  "The  Religion  of  Child- 
hood," pointed  out  that  the  doctrine  of  Scripture  with  reference 
to  children  was  that  they  were  in  a  state  of  regeneration.     This 


67 

state,  he  claimed,  consisted  not  merely  in  the  remission  of  the 
penalty  due  to  original  sin  but  to  a  positive  gift  actually  im- 
parted by  the  Divine  Spirit  and  constituting  the  "new  life."  This 
gift,  Hibbard  maintained,  every  child  retains  until  by  his  own 
evil  choice  he  suflfers  a  personal  fall  from  grace.  Such  a  fall 
is  not  necessary,  and  the  aim  of  Christian  nurture  should  be  to 
prevent  the  choice  for  the  evil  life  and  to  develop  the  germinal  life 
planted  in  the  soul  at  the  beginning.  The  old  view  in  the  Metho- 
dist church  was  that  a  man  could  not  be  religious  until  he  was 
converted  from  Satan  to  God  through  a  radical  change  of  heart. 
Hibbard  taught  that  one  could  not  be  irreligious  until  he  had 
been  "converted  from  God  to  Satan"  by  a  deliberate  act  of  the  will. 
He  supported  his  contention  by  referring  to  the  teaching  of  his 
own  church  relative  to  universal  infant  regeneration  and  to  the 
generally  accepted  belief  that  all  persons  who  die  in  infancy  are 
saved.  But,  says  Hibbard :  "If  dying  infants  are  saved,  it  must 
be  through  divine  grace.  But  why  should  such  grace  be  given 
to  those  who  die  but  withheld  from  those  who  need  it  for  liv- 
ing." This  was  the  central  thought  of  his  entire  book.  If  divine 
grace  is  vouchsafed  to  dying  infants  why  should  it  be  denied 
to  the  living?  And  hence  his  contention  that  all  children  are 
in  a  state  of  regeneration  through  the  grace  of  God.  The  proper 
training  of  children,  therefore,  consists  in  developing  and  strength- 
ing  the  germinal  principles  of  the  spiritual  life  implanted  in 
the  soul  at  the  beginning,  that  the  growing  child  may  have  its 
character  formed  on  the  positive  side  by  the  establishing  of  right 
principles  and  right  conduct  and  practically  never  know  a  pro- 
tracted negative  period  of  wilfulness  and  sin. 

And  this  view,  so  well  expressed  by  a  Methodist  leader  of  reli- 
gious thought  on  the  religion  of  childhood,  is  becoming  widely 
accepted  in  all  the  Christian  denominations  of  the  revival  type  of 
church  activity.  Even  the  conservative  Presbyterian  church,  by 
a  practically  unanimous  expression  of  opinion  on  the  part  of  the 
ministers  and  laymen  alike,  not  long  since  struck  out  the  article  on 
"Infant  Damnation"  for  unbaptized  children  from  the  pages  of 
its  revised  prayer  book,  as  alike  offensive  to  Christian  ethics  and 
opposed  to  biblical  teaching.     In  fact,  there  is  scarcely  a  Protestant 


68 

denomination  anywhere  who  would  still  hold  strictly  to  the  view 
of  the  unregenerate  condition  of  unbaptized  infants,  as  formerly 
taught  so  widely  by  Catholic  and  Protestant  bodies  alike.  With 
the  passing  away  in  our  Protestant  churches  of  the  view  of  the 
unregenerate  state  of  the  child's  moral  condition,  there  has  come 
to  be  accepted  in  its  place  the  more  rational  and  more  Christian 
view,  so  ably  advanced  by  such  religious  leaders  and  educators  as 
Horace  Bushnell  and  Dr.  J.  G.  Hibbard.  With  the  more  gener- 
ally accepted  view  that  a  kind,  merciful  heavenly  Father  would 
surely  not  withhold  His  grace  from  living  children  if  it  would 
save  unbaptized  dying  children  from  eternal  loss  and  abandon- 
ment, there  goes  the  other  view  just  as  widely  accepted  in 
practically  all  the  Protestant  religious  bodies  of  the  world  that  chil- 
dren of  Christian  parents  should  be  expected  to  grow  up  in  a  state 
of  grace  and  practically  always  remain  in  a  state  of  grace  through 
life  without  knowing  any  prolonged  negative  period  of  sin. 

3»    Coe  on  **  Salvation  through  Education/' 

Perhaps  the  most  widely  known  writer  on  religious  education  in 
our  country  at  the  present  time  is  Prof.  Geo.  A.  Coe  of  the  North- 
western University,  from  whose  books  "The  Spiritual  Life"  and 
the  "Religion  of  a  Mature  Mind"  I  have  had  frequent  occasion 
to  quote  in  this  pamphlet.  Prof.  Coe's  latest  book  is  on  the 
subject,  "Education  in  Religion  and  Morals."  It  is  a  significant 
fact  that  Prof.  Coe  is  professor  in  one  of  the  most  influential 
Methodist  institutions  of  learning  in  this  country  and  evidently 
the  harbinger  of  a  new  and  better  day  for  religious  training  in 
the  Methodist  church.  This  church  has  been  perhaps  the  most 
insistent  and  most  emphatic  of  all  the  great  Protestant  denomina- 
tions in  the  country,  in  claiming  that  a  radical  process  of  conver- 
sion is  necessary  for  salvation  and  that  children,  however  carefully 
trained  from  childhood  up  in  religious  matters,  cannot  be  regarded 
as  in  a  state  of  regeneration  until  they  have  had  some  kind  of  radical 
transformation  of  the  spiritual  life  in  conversion.  Prof.  Coe 
does  not  underestimate  the  importance  of  the  "new  birth"  for 
confirmed  sinners,  but  he  advocates  a  process  of  careful  religious 


69 

training  for  the  child  of  rehgious  parents  so  that  there  may  be  a 
gradual  unfolding  of  the  child's  religious  nature  from  within 
by  normal  processes  of  growth  and  development,  rather  than  a 
sudden,  radical  transformation  of  the  child's  moral  nature  from 
without,  through  sudden  conversion,  after  a  period  of  moral  neglect 
and  disorder.  In  a  chapter  on  "Salvation  by  Education"  he 
points  out  the  important  fact,  already  referred  to  in  this  treatise, 
that  the  Christian  life  is  to  be  regarded  as  an  "incarnation,"  a 
realization  of  the  divine  purpose  and  plan  in  our  every  day 
spiritual  activities.  The  Divine  Spirit  is  to  be  regarded  as  being 
present  in  all  the  normal  processes  of  the  soul's  activities.  This 
is  the  same  view  which  Prof.  Bowne,  also  a  professor  in  a  large 
Methodist  university,  advances,  when  he  says  that  "the  sense  of 
a  divine  presence  in  our  lives  is  not  dying  out  but  it  is  taking 
on  a  new  form  in  accordance  with  a  more  careful  psychology 
and  a  greater  precision  of  thought.  Along  with  this  has  come 
the  insight  that  it  is  preeminently  in  the  conscience,  the  pure  heart, 
the  surrendered  zmll,  the  holy  activities,  that  God  makes  His  abode 
with  us."  The  view  advanced  in  the  chapter  on  "Salvation  by 
Education"  is  that  the  child  is  to  grow  up  a  Christian  in  a  positive 
sense  and  "that  the  life  of  every  child  is  a  life  in  God  and  that 
development  of  the  mind  should  be  growth  in  the  God-conscious- 
ness." With  Coe  education  is  to  be  regarded  as  self-expression. 
He  says :  "When  education  is  taken  in  the  profound  sense  of 
bringing  to  expression  that  which  is  deepest  and  most  real  in 
man,  then  it  becomes  a  means  of  making  him  conscious  of  the 
God  in  whom  he  lives  and  moves  and  has  his  being.  Such 
training  can  begin  with  infancy  and  it  can  continue  to  old  age. 
It  can  and  does  bring  men  to  the  obedient  recognition  of  God 
as  the  supreme  reality  and  of  Christ  as  the  Way,  the  Truth 
and  the  Life.  This  is  salvation  by  education."  With  this  broader 
and  more  comprehensive  view  of  Christian  education  we  would 
probably  all  agree. 

4.     Other  Noted  Religious  Educators  on  Christian  Culture. 

In  England,  both  among  Anglicans  and  among  Nonconformists, 
and  in  the  United  States  among  all  classes  of  religious  leaders  and 


70 

educators,  the  best  educational  and  religious  thought  is  along 
similar  lines.  Thus  Rev.  R.  J.  Campbell  of  the  City  Temple, 
London,  successor  to  Joseph  Parker,  writes :  "I  believe  that 
many  thousand  children  grow  up  within  the  kingdom  without  being 
consciously  alienated  from  God.  Their  spiritual  history  is  a  de- 
velopment rather  than  a  revolution."  Rev.  John  Watson,  D.  D.,  the 
author  of  "Beside  the  Bonnie  Brier  Bush,"  writes :  "I  believe  that 
a  child  may  be  born  into  the  Kingdom  of  God  when  it  is  born 
into  the  world  and  grow  up  within  God's  family,  as  did  Jeremiah 
and  John  the  Baptist.  I  also  hold  that  the  conscious  crisis 
called  conversion  is  not  necessary  to  regeneration,  for  the  opposite 
would  mean  that  every  one  had  to  go  astray  and  be  brought  back 
to  God  at  a  distinct  point  in  his  life,  which  is  not  the  case." 
Dr.  De  Garmo,  formerly  president  of  Swarthmore  College  and 
now  professor  at  Cornell  writes  as  an  educator  and  also  as  a 
member  of  the  Society  of  Friends :  'Tn  the  earlier  years  of  reli- 
gious instruction  it  ought  to  be  assumed  that  every  child  is  a 
child  of  God ;  that  by  virtue  of  this  fact  he  belongs  in  the 
Christian  family.  Children  ought  not  to  be  allowed  to  drift  on 
and  on  with  the  general  assumption  that  they  are  lost,  and  the 
vague  hope  that  sometime  they  will  be  redeemed ;  but  direct 
conscious  effort  should  be  made  to  initiate  them  into  a  distinctively 
religious  life."  H.  Clay  Trumbull,  of  the  "Sunday  School  Times" 
and  for  many  years  one  of  the  foremost  Sunday-school  leaders 
in  the  country,  writes  about  mistaken  conceptions  of  the  child's 
religious  life  as  follows :  "Members  of  many  a  Sunday-school 
class,  who  might  be  desirous  of  being  received  into  full  church 
membership  would  be  inquired  of,  not  so  much  on  the  point 
whether  they  now  love  and  trust  the  Lord  Jesus,  as  on  the  point 
when  they  were  converted;  not  so  much  concerning  the  evidence 
which  their  present  course  furnishes  of  their  fidelity  to  their  Divine 
Master,  as  concerning  the  evidence  they  can  supply  that  their  con- 
version was  a  sound  and  a  thorough  one.  In  this  way  many  young 
disciples  are  taught  to  look  within  at  themselves,  rather  than  out- 
ward and  upward  at  their  Saviour." 

Bishop  Neely  of  the  Methodist  church,  in  an  introduction  to 
a  book  on  "The  Child's  Religious  Life,"  being  "A  Study  of  the 


71 

Child's  Religious  Nature  and  the  Best  Methods  for  its  Training 
and  Development,"  by  Rev.  W.  G.  Koons,  A.  M.,  makes  these 
pertinent  remarks  on  the  subject :  "The  best  period  for  religious 
work  is  childhood.  Then  the  parent,  the  teacher,  the  preacher 
and  the  church  may  do  the  best  work,  do  it  most  easily  and  secure 
the  best  and  most  permanent  results.  Very  often  the  religious  life 
of  the  little  child  is  superior  to  the  religious  life  of  many  adults, 
because  it  is  simpler  and  sweeter."  It  is  the  view  of  practically 
all  wise  and  rational  religious  teachers  and  educators  of  our  time, 
to  regard  the  religious  life  of  the  child  as  a  continuous  one,  which 
has  its  roots  in  its  inborn  religious  nature  and  which  is  to  be  trained 
and  developed  as  all  the  other  sides  of  the  child's  conscious  mental 
life.  It  is  the  great  problem  of  modern  religious  educators  and 
teachers  to  train  the  child's  nature  as  a  whole,  not  only  on  its 
intellectual  and  physical  side,  but  also  on  its  moral  and  spiritual 
side,  through  a  careful  process  of  cultivation  which  begins  with 
childhood  and  which  must  continue  until  the  child's  intellectual 
and  moral  character  is  pretty  well  formed  and  right  habits  of 
thinking  and  right  states  of  will  pretty  well  established.  The 
growing  nature  of  the  child  is  a  unity,  endowed  with  infinite 
capacities  and  possibilities  which  are  to  be  developed  by  careful 
sympathetic  training  on  the  part  of  parents,  teachers  and  religious 
leaders,  so  that  the  child's  spiritual  life,  like  his  intellectual  and  his 
physical  life,  is  to  unfold  and  develop  normally  and  by  gradual 
processes  from  within,  in  accordance  with  the  laws  of  its  own 
spiritual  nature,  and  not  by  spasmodic  and  super-normal  influences 
from  without,  through  radical  conversion.  And  there  is  no  greater 
educational  problem  before  the  teachers  and  educators  of  the 
country  to-day  than  the  one  of  Christian  education.  All  true  edu- 
cation must  be  religious  education.  The  intellectual  training  in 
our  public  schools  should  be  carried  on  continually  with  the 
thought  in  the  background  of  the  child's  moral  and  religious 
needs  and  capacities.  All  true  education  should  bring  the  child 
face  to  face  with  the  thought  of  God  as  embodied  in  the  facts 
and  truths  taught  in  ever>'  branch  of  human  knowledge,  and 
with  the  truth  of  human  responsibility  to  God  as  revealed  in 
the  human  conscience  and  in  the  revealed  Word  of  God.     It  is 


72 

the  urgent  duty  of  all  true  instructors  of  the  young — the  parent,, 
the  teacher  and  the  religious  leader — to  assist  the  growing 
child  in  the  formation  of  his  Christian  life  and  character  so  that 
he  may  grow  gradually,  but  none  the  less  strongly  and  positively, 
into  the  full  possession  of  his  spiritual  inheritance  through  a  vital 
faith  in  the  ever-present  and  ever-living  God,  the  Father  and  Maker 
of  us  all. 


IV*     The  Spiritual  Life  as  a  Personal  Relationship  of 
the  Soul  to  its  Heavenly  Father, 

The  spiritual  life  is  represented  under  a  large  variety  of  figures 
of  speech  in  the  Bible.  It  is  conceived  of  as  a  close,  inner 
union  between  the  soul  and  its  Maker  in  the  figure  of  the  vine 
and  the  branches.  "I  am  the  vine,  ye  are  the  branches.  He 
that  abideth  in  me  and  I  in  him  the  same  bringeth  forth  much 
fruit;  for  without  me  ye  can  do  nothing."  John  15:5.  Or  it 
is  represented  as  a  structure,  whose  "foundation"  and  "corner- 
stone" is  Jesus  Christ.  "Other  foundation  can  no  man  lay  than 
that  is  laid,  which  is  Jesus  Christ."  I  Corinthians  3:  11.  And 
again  the  Christian  life  is  spoken  of  under  the  figure  of  an 
indwelling  spirit  in  a  physical  temple.  "Know  ye  not  that  ye 
are  the  temple  of  God  and  the  spirit  of  God  dwelleth  in  you?" 
I  Corinthians  3 :  16.  Or  the  figure  of  the  growing  plant,  with 
its  need  of  good  soil,  of  proper  nourishment  and  freedom  from 
choking  weeds,  is  taken  to  express  the  fundamental  thought  of 
the  Christian  life.  The  life-principle  of  the  plant  is  in  the  germ 
of  the  seed  which  simply  germinates  and  grows  under  proper 
conditions  and  brings  forth  fruit.  And  again,  the  spiritual  king- 
dom is  compared  to  an  invisible  life-principle,  implanted  into  the 
soul  and  permeating  its  entire  conscious  activities,  under  the  figure 
of  "leaven"  which  is  "hid  in  three  measures  of  meal"  and  which 
eventually  leavens  the  whole  lump.  And  for  none  of  these  repre- 
sentations of  the  spiritual  life  is  a  supernatural  process  of  a  "new 
birth"  required  to  carry  out  the  thought  consistently  and  harmoni- 
ously, but  they  may  all  be  made  applicable  to  the  normal,  gradual 


7Z 

processes  of  the  child's  unfolding  spiritual  life.  To  be  sure,  a 
spiritual  agency  is  assumed  in  all  these  conceptions  of  the  Christian 
life,  but  it  is  the  agency  which  works  in  accordance  with  estab- 
lished spiritual  laws  and  which  may  be  continually  operative  in 
the  normal  processes  of  the  child's  religious  growth  and  develop- 
ment. The  close,  intimate  relationship  between  the  soul  and  God 
as  represented  under  the  figure  of  the  vine  and  the  branches  is 
not  only  possible,  but  desirable  and  practicable,  from  the  tenderest 
age  of  childhood  through  the  entire  stretch  of  the  Christian's  life 
here  upon  earth.  The  pure  and  uncontaminated  body  of  the  young 
Christian  child  may  be  just  as  fitting  and  worthy  a  temple  of  the 
Holy  Ghost  as  the  full  grown  body  of  the  mature  man,  too  often 
rendered  impure  and  unclean  by  the  contamination  of  sin.  If 
Jesus  Christ  is  to  be  the  "foundation"  and  cornerstone"  of  our 
Christian  characters,  then  surely  the  impressionable  age  of  child- 
hood and  youth  is  the  most  appropriate  time  for  the  right  spiritual 
foundation  to  be  laid.  Or  if  the  Christian  spirit  is  to  be  repre- 
sented by  the  hidden  and  mysterious  principle  of  the  "leaven"  in 
the  dough,  or  of  the  "germ"  in  the  seed,  to  be  developed  and  to 
grow  under  favorable  conditions  and  with  proper  surroundings, 
then  most  assuredly  the  tender  age  of  childhood  and  youth  is  the 
most  favorable  time  for  these  gracious  and  life-giving  forces  to 
begin  their  processes  of  growth  and  development.  There  must  be 
a  beginning  of  all  these  spiritual  activities  of  Christian  growth 
and  of  character-formation,  but  they  may  be  laid  early  in  life 
or  implanted  at  birth.  And  a  divine  agency  must  be  assumed  as 
the  origin  of  all  these  gracious  spiritual  activities,  but  there  is 
nothing  in  the  nature  of  the  child's  soul  or  in  the  teaching  of 
Sacred  Scripture  to  prevent  us  from  conceiving  of  this  divine 
agency  as  operative  continuously  and  uninterruptedly,  in  all  the 
various  processes  and  stages  of  the  child's  spiritual  development, 
for  the  perfecting  of  its  Christian  life  and  character.  As  Prof. 
Bowne  says :  "We  must  discern  the  divine  presence  and  agency 
in  life  as  a  zvhole,  and  work  with  Him  along  the  natural  lines 
which  He  has  established,  in  the  full  faith  that  thus  we  are  co- 
workers with  God  and  that  results  thus  reached  are  as  divine  as 
they  would  be  if  reached  by  some  miraculous  fiat." 


74 


t.    As  Illustrated  by  Mature  Christians. 

But  perhaps  the  most  beautiful  and  most  expressive  representa- 
tion of  the  nature  of  the  Christian  Hfe  is  that  of  a  personal  relch 
lationship  of  the  soul  to  Christ.  This  is  expressed  in  such  thoughts 
as  "following"  the  Master  and  becoming  a  personal  disciple  of 
His.  "If  any  man  will  come  after  me,  let  him  deny  himself  and 
take  up  his  cross  and  follow  me."  Matthew  i6 :  24.  "If  any  man 
serve  me,  let  him  follow  me;  and  where  I  am  there  shall  also 
my  servant  be."  John  12 :  26.  Or  it  is  expressed  in  the  language 
of  sonship  in  the  father's  household,  with  all  that  this  implies  of 
obedience  and  trust,  of  service  and  loyalty,  of  supreme  love  and 
affection.  God  is  not  only  the  Creator  and  Preserver  of  the  uni- 
verse, but  He  is  our  kind  and  merciful  "Heavenly  Father."  Thus 
Jesus  taught  His  disciples  to  pray,  "Our  Father  which  art  in 
heaven."  Jesus  referred  repeatedly  to  God  as  His  heavenly 
Father:  "Herein  is  my  Father  glorified  that  ye  bear  much  fruit; 
so  shall  ye  be  my  disciples."  John  15:8.  "The  cup  which  my 
Father  hath  given  me,  shall  I  not  drink  it?"  John  18:  11.  This 
assumes  complete  submission  to  the  Father's  will.  "I  ascend  to 
my  Father  and  to  your  Father  and  to  my  God  and  to  your 
God."  John  20:  17.  "I  and  my  Father  are  one."  John  10:30. 
Jesus  told  his  disciples  with  reference  to  prayer  that  they  should 
not  make  vain  repetitions  as  the  heathen  do :  "For  your  Father 
knoweth  what  things  ye  have  need  of  before  ye  ask  Him." 
Matthew  6 :  8.  The  disciples  are  told  to  be  forgiving :  "For  if 
ye  forgive  men  their  trespasses  your  heavenly  Father  will  also 
forgive  you."  Matthew  6 :  14.  The  Father  will  hear  prayer  in 
secret  and  reward  openly :  "But  thou,  when  thou  prayest,  enter  into 
thy  closet,  and  when  thou  hast  shut  thy  door,  pray  to  thy  Father 
which  is  in  secret ;  and  thy  Father  which  seeth  in  secret  shall 
reward  thee  openly."  Matthew  6 : 6.  And  again,  Jesus  says : 
"Be  ye  merciful  as  your  Father  in  heaven  is  merciful."  Luke 
6 :  36.  And  again :  "It  is  your  Father's  good  pleasure  to  give 
you  the  kingdom."  Luke  12 :  32.  A  right  attitude  towards  ene- 
mies is  made  a  condition  of  sonship.     Jesus  says  in  Matthew 


75 

5 :  44.  45  •  "But  I  say,  love  your  enemies,  bless  them  that  curse 
you,  do  good  to  them  that  hate  you  and  pray  for  them  that 
despitefully  use  you  and  persecute  you,  that  ye  may  be  the  chilren 
of  your  Father  in  heaven.''  God  is  our  Father  and  as  such.  He 
is  loving,  kind,  merciful,  forgiving,  ready  to  answer  prayer,  not 
desiring  that  any  should  perish  but  of  infinite  love  and  compassion. 
"Like  as  a  father  pitieth  his  children,  so  the  Lord  pitieth  them 
that  fear  him."     Psalm  103:13. 

And  if  God  is  our  Father,  then  we  are  his  children  and  stand 
in  the  same  relation  to  Him  spiritually  as  earthly  children  to  their 
natural  parents.  Thus  Paul  says :  "Ye  are  the  children  of  God 
through  faith  in  Christ  Jesus."  Galatians  3  :  6.  And  again  Paul 
writes :  "Then  shall  they  be  called  children  of  the  living  God." 
Romans  9 :  26.  Jesus  tells  his  disciples  to  love  their  enemies 
and  to  pray  for  those  who  persecute  them,  that  ye  may  be  called 
"the  children  of  your  Father  in  heaven."  Matthew  5 :  45.  Paul 
writes  thus :  "The  spirit  beareth  witness  with  our  spirits  that  we 
are  the  children  of  God,  and  if  children,  then  heirs,  heirs  of  God 
and  joint  heirs  with  Christ."  Romans  8:16,  17.  Or  we  shall 
be  called  the  "sons"  of  God.  "Beloved,  what  manner  of  love  hath 
the  Father  bestowed  upon  us  that  we  should  be  called  the  sons 
of  God,  Beloved,  now  are  we  the  sons  of  God  but  it  doth  not 
yet  appear  what  we  shall  be ;  but  we  know  that  when  he  shall 
appear  we  shall  be  like  him  ;  for  we  shall  see  him  as  he  is."  I  John 
3:1,2.  "Ye  are  the  sons  of  the  living  God."  Hosea  i  :  10.  As 
sons  we  are  created  in  the  Father's  image  and  partake  of  the 
Father's  spiritual  nature.  We  enjoy  all  the  privileges  which  this 
relationship  implies.  We  are  in  His  continual  presence  and  enjoy 
His  companionship.  We  have  an  honored  place  at  His  table. 
We  are  fed  by  His  bounty.  We  have  communion  with  Him. 
We  are  also  His  heirs,  "sons  of  God,  joint  heirs  with  Christ." 
But  by  virtue  of  our  sonship,  we  also  owe  to  the  Father  allegiance 
and  loving  obedience  and  faithful  service.  We  are  to  work  in  His 
vineyard.  We  are  to  follow  Jesus  as  our  Elder  Brother  in  his 
mission  of  love  and  mercy,  now  to  the  mountain  top  of  vision, 
now  to  the  lowly  place  where  sin  and  suffering  reign,  now  to 
the  judgment  hall  and  perhaps  to  the  garden  and  the  cross.     We 


76 

are  to  love  our  Father  with  all  our  hearts  and  with  all  our  souls. 
We  are  to  give  Him  the  supreme  allegiance  of  our  hearts  and 
the  undivided  loyalty  and  affection  of  our  lives. 

2»    As  Illustrated  by  the  Growingf  Child. 

This  conception  of  the  spiritual  life  as  a  personal  relationship 
of  the  soul  to  God  in  Jesus  Christ,  involving  all  the  elements  of  per- 
sonal friendship  and  companionship,  is  peculiarly  applicable  to  the 
views  of  salvation  through  Christian  culture  which  have  been 
under  consideration.  And  it  is  a  conception  which  the  child  can 
readily  understand  and  which  will  grow  in  breadth  and  reality 
with  the  growth  and  development  of  the  child's  personality  into 
maturity.  The  child  knows  what  earthly  parents  are  and  what 
they  have  done  for  him  and  what  they  mean  to  him.  He  knows 
what  it  means  to  love  and  to  trust  his  parents  and  in  turn  to 
be  loved  and  trusted  by  them.  He  knows  that  he  ought  to  be 
good  and  loving  and  obedient,  and  that  any  failure  on  his  part 
will  cause  his  father  pain  and  displeasure.  He  loves  to  please  his 
father  and  to  be  regarded  with  favor  and  good  will.  The  strongest 
motives  for  the  normal  child  are  fear  of  a  father's  displeasure  and 
punishment,  and  desire  for  a  father's  approval  and  commendation. 
As  the  years  go  by  fear  is  displaced  more  and  more  by  a  com- 
manding love  to  do  the  father's  will  and  to  enjoy  his  continued 
favor.  The  dutiful  son  recognizes  that  all  his  earthly  blessings 
and  comforts  come  from  a  father's  unbounded  love  and  thought- 
fulness.  And  he  does  not  hesitate  to  come  to  his  father  with  the 
greatest  degree  of  freedom  and  assurance  for  comfort  and  consola- 
tion in  times  of  trouble,  for  sympathy  and  fellowship  in  moments 
of  joy  and  pleasure,  for  unlimited  favors  through  childish  re- 
quests in  things  that  are  wanted  and  needed.  A  father's  ability 
to  grant  favors  and  dispense  blessings  is  only  exceeded  by  his 
ready  willingness  to  satisfy  the  multiplied  needs  of  the  growing 
child  to  the  fullest  extent.  This  freedom  of  access  and  un- 
bounded confidence  and  trust  in  a  father's  unlimited  capacity 
as  a  dispenser  of  all  kinds  of  blessings,  is  characteristic  of 
the   simple   faith   of   childlike   trust.     Deep   down   in   the   child's 


77 

innermost  heart,  and  underlying  his  entire  mental  attitude  toward 
his  father  is  the  full  consciousness  that  he  has  free  and  unrestricted 
access  to  his  father  and  that  he  owes  his  father  the  best  service 
of  his  young  life. 

This  relationship  to  his  earthly  father — and  I  use  the  word 
father  for  the  parental  relationship — helps  the  child  to  under- 
stand his  relationship  to  his  heavenly  Father.  By  a  simple  and 
easy  process  of  thought  he  can  be  made  to  carry  the  conception 
of  his  earthly  relationship  to  his  father  over  to  the  spiritual 
realm.  He  has  an  earthly  father  and  he  has  a  heavenly  Father. 
What  the  earthly  father  is  to  his  youthful  mind  in  all  the  qualities 
that  make  the  thought  of  father  precious  and  sacred,  that  the 
thought  of  a  kind,  loving  and  merciful  heavenly  Father  is  to 
his  childish  imagination,  only  with  infinitely  greater  powers  and 
possibilities.  It  is  really  touching  to  see  with  what  simplicity  and 
guilelessness  the  young  mind  will  grasp  the  idea  of  a  God,  as 
Father,  with  strength  and  wisdom  and  power  and  love  and  kindly 
affection,  unlimited  and  unbounded.  The  trustful  child  will  flee 
as  readily  into  the  loving  arms  of  his  heavenly  Father  as  he  will 
into  the  arms  of  his  earthly  father.  He  may  be  taught  to  love 
his  Saviour  with  all  the  vividness  and  intensity  of  his  young  soul. 
It  is  easy  for  him  to  tell  God  all  his  troubles  and  childish 
disappointments,  to  confess  all  his  sins  and  wrongdoings  and 
seek  forgiveness,  to  ask  freely  for  all  his  real  and  imaginary 
needs  and  desires,  and  to  feel  buoyantly  happy  in  his  Father's 
goodwill  and  approval  as  revealed  in  a  good  conscience.  A 
mingled  feeling  of  fear  of  God's  displeasure  and  punishment  and 
of  desire  for  his  approval  and  goodwill  are  powerful  motives  to 
the  childish  mind.  In  later  years  fear  is  displaced  more  and  more 
by  an  overpowering  love  to  do  the  Father's  good  pleasure,  not 
through  fear  of  punishment,  but  because  of  a  commanding  desire 
to  do  the  will  of  God  and  enjoy  His  gracious  favor  in  the  sweet 
consciousness  of  an  approving  conscience.  How  precious  is  such 
simple  faith  and  childlike  trust  on  the  part  of  the  Christian  child 
in  the  goodness,  mercy  and  loving  kindness  of  our  common  heav- 
enly Father.  He  is  ever  watchful,  ready  to  hear  and  answer 
prayers,  always  gentle,  loving  and  kind,  unlimited  in  resources 


78 

and  unfailing  in  His  promises.  It  is  refreshing  to  hear  the  secret 
thoughts  and  unfeigned  faith  of  some  of  Jesus'  "Httle  ones," 
who  pour  out  their  hearts  to  Him  in  the  greatest  simpHcity  and 
trustfulness,  never  doubting,  never  fearing.  Thus  children  are 
taught  to  sing: 

Jesus  was  once  a  little  child, 

A  little  child  like  me; 
Was  cradled  in  His  mother's  arms, 

And  sat  upon  her  knee. 

Once  He  was  just  the  age  I  am. 

And  was  as  helpless,  too ; 
He  used  to  sleep  and  walk  and  speak 

Just  as  little  children  do. 

And  why  was  it  He  chose  to  be 

A  child  so  poor  and  weak? 
It  was  that  I  might  learn  from  Him 

How  blessed  are  the  meek; 

It  was  that  I  might  learn  from  Him 

My  parents  to  obey. 
And,  like  the  Child  of  Nazareth, 

Grow  holier  every  day. 


The  young  child,  at  a  comparatively  early  age,  may  be  taught 
to  understand  some  of  the  simpler  truths  of  this  divine  relation- 
ship. But  no  arbitrary  time  can  be  set.  Children  do  not  develop 
alike,  either  physically  or  intellectually,  much  less  religiously. 
Jonathan  Edwards  tells  us  of  a  remarkable  case  of  conversion 
at  the  age  of  six;  and  Dr.  Anthony  tells  us  of  a  most  unusual 
case  of  a  little  girl,  just  past  four,  having  a  vivid  sense  of  her 
wilfulness  and  of  God's  love  and  forgiveness  through  childlike 
prayer.     But  these  cases  are  unusual.     But  just  as  early  as  the 


79 

child  begins  to  understand,  in  a  limited  way,  what  his  relationship 
to  his  parents  means,  just  so  early,  in  a  limited  way,  he  may 
be  made  to  understand  the  idea  of  a  God  and  Father  of  us  all, 
who  not  only  made  us,  but  also  keeps  us  and  watches  over  us 
and  loves  us  and  cares  for  us.  It  is  remarkable  how  early  in  life 
the  child's  religious  consciousness  develops  in  some  children  and 
how  real  and  how  vivid  these  spiritual  relations  seem  to 
them.  It  is  in  the  very  nature  of  the  normal  child  to  be  trustful, 
to  have  a  lively  sense  of  right  and  wrong,  to  hear  vividly  these 
strange  and  mysterious  voices  of  duty,  "thou  shalt"  and  "thou 
shalt  not,"  and  to  picture  in  his  youthful  imagination  the  reality 
of  the  unseen  world.  Children  can  be  taught  early  in  life  to 
say  their  little  prayers  of  "Now  I  lay  me  down  to  sleep"  and 
to  love  the  blessed  Saviour  who  said  "Suffer  the  little  children  to 
come  unto  me  and  forbid  them  not,  for  of  such  is  the  kingdom  of 
heaven,"  and  to  pour  out  their  little  hearts  to  God  in  simple  con- 
fession of  wrongdoing  and  in  earnest  request  for  forgiveness  and 
help  in  their  daily  tasks  and  duties.  A  child  thus  raised  and 
taught  early  in  life  to  say  its  prayers,  to  love  its  Saviour,  and  to 
do  God's  will  according  to  the  extent  of  his  childish  understand- 
ing, must  be  considered  an  earnest,  trustful  and  sincere  member 
of  the  Father's  spiritual  household.  And  he  is  to  be  taught  to  re- 
main in  this  simple,  childlike  attitude  of  trust  all  through  life.  The 
habit  of  prayer  begun  at  his  mother's  knee  should  remain  a  precious 
heritage  through  all  the  changing  experiences  of  life.  The  young 
heart  is  to  be  given  early  to  its  Saviour  and  to  remain  unchanged 
in  its  attitude  of  obedience  and  submission  to  thp  end  of  life.  Paul 
told  the  Corinthians  that  when  he  was  a  child,  he  thought  as  a 
child,  and  spake  as  a  child.  And  this  must  be  peculiarly  true  of  the 
religious  child.  As  a  religious  child,  he  is  to  think  as  a  child, 
to  feel  as  a  child  and  to  act  as  a  child.  But  when  the  spiritual 
life  has  developed  into  manhood,  under  the  careful  tutelage 
of  wise  and  sympathetic  parents  and  teachers,  then  he  may 
put  away  his  childish  conceptions  and  his  childish  notions 
of  things  religious  and  enter  into  the  full  possession  of  his 
spiritual  inheritance  as  a  full  grown  member  of  God's  spir- 
itual household.  But  the  trustfulness,  the  openheartedness,  the 
6 


8o 

guilelessness,  the  purity  and  simplicity  of  his  childish  faith 
are  to  remain  with  him  to  the  end.  For  "of  such"  is  the 
kingdom  of  heaven. 

And  thus  this  conception  of  a  personal  relationship  to  God 
gives  us  the  most  beautiful  and  the  most  impressive  picture  of 
the  Qiristian  life.  Begun  in  early  childhood  at  his  mother's 
knee,  the  child  of  faith  and  trust  never  outgrows  his  youthful 
idea  of  his  spiritual  relationship.  With  his  growing  intelligence 
and  with  his  wider  outlook  upon  life,  his  childish  conception  of 
his  relation  to  his  heavenly  Father  will  also  expand  and  enlarge 
its  boundaries.  His  religion  will  become  less  external  and  less 
mechanical.  As  the  deeper  and  more  spiritual  conception  of  his 
relationship  to  his  earthly  parents  will  gradually  take  possession  of 
the  child's  mind  and  supplant  his  crude  and  somewhat  imperfect 
notions,  in  like  manner  he  will  conceive  of  his  spiritual  relationship 
to  his  heavenly  Father  in  a  more  profound  and  spiritual  sense. 
His  spiritual  life  grows  broader  and  deeper  and  less  concrete 
and  external.  But  he  will  never  outgrow  the  simple  yet  beauti- 
ful and  profound  conception  of  his  spiritual  life  as  a  personal 
relation  of  friendship  to  his  heavenly  Father,  because  it  meets 
the  deepest  needs  of  his  soul  and  satisfies  the  profoundest  aspira- 
tions of  his  heart.  For  the  scholar,  the  philosopher  or  the  man  of 
practical  affairs,  God  is  still  "Our  Father,"  with  all  that  precious 
word  implies,  and  we  are  still  his  "children,"  created  in  His 
image,  fed  by  His  bounty,  encompassed  by  His  love,  redeemed 
by  His  suffering  and  death  on  the  cruel  cross,  and  made  the 
legatees  of  his  spiritual  inheritance,  being  "heirs  of  God  and 
joint  heirs   with   Christ  Jesus." 

Pres.  King  in  his  "Reconstruction  in  Theology"  puts  this 
thought  of  the  spiritual  life  as  a  personal  relationship  in  these 
words :  "Let  us  note  that  the  whole  problem  of  life,  of  morals 
and  of  religion  is  ultimately  for  us  all  a  problem  of  the  fulfilment 
of  personal  relations,  human  and  divine.  It  is  the  problem  of 
simply  bringing  the  child  to  a  genuine  sharing  of  the  life  of  the 
Father  to  a  choice  of  character  and  joy  like  the  Father's ;  that 
is  finally  the  problem  of  learning  to  live  the  life  of  love  as  com- 
plete and  all-inclusive." 


8i 


V»     Some  Practical  Conclusions* 

t.     Salvation  through  Christian  Culture  the  **NormaP'  Process, 

In  view  of  all  these  considerations  should  not  this  method  of 
Christian  culture  be  considered  the  normal  one?  As  we  have 
seen,  Jesus  considers  the  rightful  place  of  His  lambs  to  be  in  the 
fold  with  the  shepherd,  and  the  rightful  place  of  the  son  to  be 
in  the  father's  household  with  the  father.  If  the  child  is  nor- 
mally religious,  as  we  have  learned  by  abundant  testimony,  why 
should  his  conversion  through  gradual  growth  and  development 
not  be  considered  his  normal  experience?  Is  it  not  time,  there- 
fore, that  the  church  at  large  lay  more  emphasis  upon  holding 
its  children  within  the  fold  than  to  win  them  back  after  they  have 
been  allowed  to  wander  away?  Has  not  the  notion  reigned  long 
enough  in  many  churches  and  among  many  parents  that  children 
are  by  nature  doomed  to  serve  the  world  and  the  devil  before  they 
can  be  brought  under  the  influence  of  the  Gospel  through  a 
supernatural  intervention  of  divine  power?  Should  not  increas- 
ingly greater  emphasis  be  laid,  in  all  of  our  religious  efforts  of 
home,  school,  church  and  Sunday  school,  upon  the  importance  of 
careful  religious  training  and  instruction  of  the  growing  child, 
to  the  end  that  he  may  become  established  and  strengthened  in 
the  positive,  expressive  side  of  his  religious  life  so  that  he  may 
be  spared  the  painful  experience  of  a  continued  life  of  sin  and 
degradation  and  the  consequent  necessity  of  a  radical  conversion? 
Are  parents  fully  aware  of  their  tremendous  responsibilities? 
Should  there  not  be  a  revival  within  the  church  of  parental  re- 
sponsibility for  their  children  and  of  increased  effort  by  the 
church  to  keep  the  children  and  to  bring  them  up  in  the  fear 
and  admonition  of  the  Lord  ?  More  mothers  Hke  Hannah  of  old, 
who  brought  the  young  Samuel  early  to  the  temple  and  dedi- 
cated him  to  the  service  of  God  in  prayer  and  self-surrender, 
more  mothers  and  grandmothers  like  Eunice  and  Lois  to  bring  up 
the  young  Timothys  in  the  atmosphere  of  prayer  and  reverence  for 
God's  word  and   love   for  His  kingdom,  would  bring  a  larger 


82 

proportion  of  the  young  people  of  Christian  homes  into  right 
relations  with  God  from  childhood  up,  would  save  many  a  young 
life  from  waywardness  and  dissipation,  and  would  result  in  adding 
to  the  church  increasing  numbers  of  members  who  have  come  by 
the  normal  process  of  Christian  culture  and  Christian  education. 

2.     Continual  Necessity  for  Efforts  to  Save  the  Unconverted. 

There  doubtless  always  will  be  large  numbers  of  young  people 
who  will  grow  up  in  a  careless  and  indifferent  way  and  who 
will  need  the  striking  experience  of  a  radical  change  of  heart. 
There  will  doubtless  always  be  large  numbers  of  young  people, 
even  in  Christian  families,  who  will  carelessly  and  thoughtlessly 
ignore  the  demands  of  the  spiritual  life  or  wilfully  and  deliber- 
ately indulge  in  the  pleasures  of  sin  and  folly,  who  will  therefore 
need  a  radical  transformation  of  their  spiritual  natures  in  conver- 
sion. And  hence  there  will  always  be  demand  for  the  ringing 
calls  of  a  John  the  Baptist :  "Repent,  for  the  kingdom  of  heaven 
is  at  hand."  Special  appeals  to  the  erring  ones  will  always  be 
necessary.  The  utmost  efforts  must  be  put  forth  to  reach  the 
unregenerate  and  the  lost.  It  is  still  the  mission  of  the  church, 
as  it  has  always  been,  to  seek  and  to  save  that  which  was  lost, 
to  go  out  after  the  erring  ones  and  to  lift  up  the  fallen.  And 
I  wish  to  record  right  here  my  profound  conviction  of  the  im- 
portance of  all  wisely-directed  efforts  for  the  salvation  and  redemp- 
tion of  the  world.  We  are  to  save  the  children  for  Christ  and  keep 
them  within  the  fold  by  all  the  available  methods  within  our 
reach.  And  there  is  much  more  work  to  be  accomplished  along 
this  line  than  most  of  us  realize.  The  Christian  church  and 
Christian  educators  have  not  become  fully  awake  yet  to  the  tre- 
mendous significance  and  far-reaching  importance  of  Christ's 
words  to  Peter  when  He  said :  "Feed  my  lambs."  At  the  same 
time  I  am  fully  aware  of  the  fact  that,  as  in  times  past,  so  in  the 
future,  there  will  be  continued  necessity  for  special  religious  effort 
to  bring  the  careless  and  indifferent  to  a  vivid  sense  of  their 
spiritual  needs  and  responsibilities,  and  the  wilfully  disobedient 
and  rebellious  souls  to  the  point  of  self-surrender  and  loyalty  to 


83 

God  through  a  process  of  radical  conversion.  The  very  fact 
that  some  souls,  either  through  neglect  or  wilfulness,  will 
always  become  prodigals  and  wander  away  from  the  Father's 
house  makes  it  necessary  to  put  forth  renewed  efforts  to  save 
such  wanderers  and  bring  them  back  to  a  life  of  obedience  and 
loyalty. 

Some  natures  are  so  constituted  that  they  need  more  effort  and 
appeal  to  respond  to  spiritual  demands  upon  them.  For  such 
people  special  seasons  of  religious  effort  are  helpful  and  almost 
necessary  for  proper  growth  and  development.  For  the  hardened 
sinner  and  the  abandoned  profligate,  nothing  but  the  most  stirring 
and  persuasive  appeals  will  avail  for  salvation  and  redemption, 
and  hence  there  will  always  be  an  urgent  necessity  on  the  part  of 
the  church  "to  seek  and  to  save"  that  which  is  lost  by  all  the 
legitimate  methods  of  warning  and  of  appeal  available  through 
the  "saving  influences"  of  the  Gospel.  In  fact,  we  are  to  become 
"all  things  to  all  men,"  so  that  we  may  "by  all  means  save  some." 
And  hence  the  "rescue  work"  in  our  big  cities,  the  "missions" 
to  the  careless  and  indifferent,  the  "conventions"  for  promoting 
interest  in  special  church  activities,  the  "assemblies"  for  Bible 
study  and  meditation,  the  quiet  "gatherings"  of  the  believers  for 
■deepening  their  spiritual  lives,  the  special  "appeals"  and  united 
"efforts"  of  the  church  for  the  purpose  of  reaching  the  "indiffer- 
ent" and  the  wilfully  "disobedient,"  will  always  find  an  important 
place  in  the  supreme  mission  of  the  church  to  "bring  Christ 
to  the  world  and  to  win  the  world  for  Him."  But  the  greatest 
amount  of  effort  should  still  be  to  keep  the  children  for  Christ, 
and  to  "feed  the  lambs,"  to  bring  up  Christ's  "little  ones"  in  the 
nurture  and  admonition  of  the  Lord.  "These  ought  ye  to  have 
done  and  not  to  leave  the  other  undone."  Not  less  effort  for 
the  spiritually  "sick"  to  make  them  whole,  but  more  effort  for 
the  spiritually  "whole"  to  keep  them  from  getting  sick;  not  less 
effort  to  "raise"  the  fallen,  but  more  to  keep  God's  children 
from  "falling;"  not  less  of  regeneration  through  the  "new  birth" 
for  the  prodigals  of  the  world,  but  more  of  salvation  through 
Christian  culture  for  God's  growing  children — this  should  be  the 
motto  of  the  Christian  church. 


84 


3.    Religious  ''Awakenings''  not  to  be  Considered  Conversion. 

One  thing  more.  The  times  of  new  insight  into  spiritual 
things  and  of  a  quickened  conscience  and  of  enlarged  spiritual 
powers  and  conceptions,  which  come  to  most  earnest  Christian 
souls  some  time  during  the  adolescent  period,  are  not  to  be 
regarded  as  times  of  conversion.  Such  a  season  of  intense  reli- 
gious activity  in  the  life  of  a  carefully  trained  Christian  child 
is  a  "spiritual  awakening"  for  the  soul  to  the  fuller  realization 
of  its  spiritual  powers  and  capacities.  Some  foolishly  and  ig- 
norantly  call  these  seasons  of  renewed  spiritual  activity  and  of 
enlarged  spiritual  capacities  the  "new  birth."  But  this  is  mani- 
festly a  wrong  conception.  Some  natures  have  a  number  of 
these  "spiritual  awakenings,"  or  periods  of  intensified  spiritual 
activity,  during  their  religious  experience.  The  normal  man  has 
"awakenings"  or  periods  of  sudden  insight  and  of  renewed  en- 
largement of  his  powers  at  certain  periods  of  his  life  on  the  social, 
the  intellectual  and  the  aesthetic  side  of  his  growth  and  develop- 
ment. But  these  "awakenings"  in  the  social  and  intellectual  life 
of  the  growing  child  are  easily  explained.  They  are  moments  of 
accelerated  growth  and  of  intensified  activity  during  which  the 
educative  processes  grow  more  rapidly  apace,  and  the  social  and 
intellectual  powers  enlarge  their  boundaries  by  leaps  and  bounds. 
The  same  seasons  of  accelerated  growth  and  of  enlarged  spiritual 
capacities  frequently  occur  in  the  spiritual  development  of  the 
soul.  These  "awakenings"  of  seemingly  new  spiritual  powers 
and  capacities  are  not  to  be  considered  as  "steps"  into  the  kingdom, 
but  as  religious  experiences  "within"  the  kingdom  itself,  through 
which  God  graciously  enlarges  the  spiritual  boundaries  of  the 
soul  and  grants  it  momentary  glimpses  of  heavenly  visions  or 
deeper  soundings  of  God's  infinite  wealth  of  spiritual  riches. 
Such  an  experience  of  "enlargement"  and  of  "vision"  the  Apostle 
Paul  had  when  he  was  caught  up  into  the  third  heaven  and 
"heard  unspeakable  words  which  it  is  not  lawful  for  a  man  to 
utter,"  or  when  he  besought  the  Lord  earnestly  that  the  thorn  in 
his  flesh  might  be  removed  from  him,  and  the  Spirit  said  unto  him : 


85 

"My  grace   is   sufficient   unto   thee:    for  my   strength    is   made 
perfect  in  weakness." 

It  is  well  to  bear  this  fact  in  mind.  These  religious  "awaken- 
ings" are  by  no  means  unique  experiences,  but  are  of  frequent 
occurrence  in  the  intellectual  and  social  life  of  many  individuals. 
As  Prof.  Starbuck  points  out:  "The  instances  are  numerous  in 
solving  problems,  making  inventions,  reaching  scientific  conclu- 
sions, and  the  like,  of  persons  feeling  after  an  idea  with  unrest 
and  perplexity  until  the  result  is  finally  presented  to  clear  con- 
sciousness, ready-made."  It  is  not  an  uncommon  thing  for  some 
minds  to  have  experiences  of  "sudden  awakenings"  to  a  sense  of 
new  powers  or  of  new  truths  in  their  intellectual  development. 
Such  experiences  might  well  be  called  an  intellectual  "new  birth," 
but  they  require  no  new  powers  or  faculties  of  the  mind,  but 
simply  an  increased  activity  and  a  sudden  deepening  and  enlarg- 
ing of  the  powers  and  faculties  inherent  in  the  human  mind 
and  capable  of  training  and  development  by  proper  educational 
processes.  In  like  manner,  some  spiritual  natures  have  "times" 
and  "seasons"  of  renewed  activity,  of  greater  vividness  and 
responsiveness  and  of  a  keener  sense  of  the  depth  and  reality  of 
the  spiritual  life,  but  these  experiences  require  no  new  spiritual 
powers  or  faculties  for  their  rational  explanation.  And  it  is  to 
be  remembered  that  only  certain  types  of  temperament  are  sub- 
ject to  these  special  awakenings.  As  in  the  intellectual  life,  so 
in  the  spiritual  life,  there  are  occasional  "crises"  or  "awakenings" 
for  certain  religious  temperaments,  usually  accompanied  by  some 
emotional  upheaval  and  some  element  of  strain  and  conflict,  but 
these  are,  however,  not  to  be  regarded  as  indications  of  new- 
bom  powers  and  faculties,  suddenly  called  into  life  by  the  Spirit 
of  God,  but  as  "stages"  of  advancement  in  the  spiritual  progress 
and  "seasons"  of  enlargement  and  of  greater  fulness  in  the 
spiritual  development  of  the  soul's  inherent  capacities. 

4.     The  Fundamental  Thought,  the  One  **  Great  Question.^ 

The  fundamental  thought  underlying  the  whole  question  of 
conversion  and  the  nature  and  origin  of  the  Christian  life  is  the: 


86 

Fatherhood  of  God  and  the  benevolent  attitude  of  the  soul 
towards  God.  God  is  our  Father  and  we  are  His  children.  We 
cannot  get  away  from  this  fact.  Our  heavenly  Father  loves  us 
and  desires  us  to  love  and  serve  Him.  His  heart  is  full  of  com- 
passion. He  hates  sin  but  loves  the  sinner  and  has  exhausted 
His  divine  resources  to  bring  the  human  soul  into  right  relations 
with  Him.  How  beautifully  Jesus  has  illustrated  those  truths 
in  His  parables  of  the  Great  Supper,  the  Lost  Sheep  and  the 
Lost  Coin  and  the  Prodigal  Son.  The  sheep  belong  to  the  shep- 
herd and  he  is  concerned  about  them  whether  they  remain  in  the 
fold  or  wander  away  and  are  lost.  The  prodigal  is  still  a  son 
whether  he  acknowledges  his  sonship  or  not.  He  can  get  away 
from  his  father's  presence,  but  not  from  his  sonship.  And  God, 
by  His  very  nature,  cannot  and  will  not  cancel  the  sonship. 
Whether  we  choose  to  remain  in  the  spiritual  fold  or  wander 
away  into  the  mountains  of  sin  to  be  rescued  and  brought  back 
with  rejoicing,  we  are  still  members  of  God's  chosen  flock.  Or 
whether  we  prefer  to  grow  up  in  the  Father's  family,  or  choose 
to  separate  ourselves  from  God  by  voluntary  sin  and  disobedience 
for  a  season,  or  even  forever,  we  are  nevertheless  God's  children, 
made  in  His  image,  imbued  with  His  life  and  spirit,  and  endowed 
with  the  spark  of  immortality.  God  loves  and  cares  for  His  flock. 
He  desires  the  children  of  His  spiritual  household  to  remain  with 
Him.  Simply  to  wander  away  from  the  flock  is  not  the  normal 
act.  Neither  is  it  a  filial  act  to  leave  the  father's  house  like  the 
prodigal  did.  To  grow  up  in  the  fold,  to  remain  under  the  paternal 
roof  are  the  normal,  sane  and  natural  things  to  expect.  The 
Father's  love  and  care  are  over  all.  How  natural,  therefore,  and 
how  beautiful  for  the  growing  young  life,  born  of  Christian 
parents  and  reared  in  Christian  families  to  unfold  its  spiritual 
nature,  under  the  vivifying  influences  of  the  Spirit,  as  the  bloom- 
ing flower  unfolds  its  fragrant  petals  to  the  warmth  and  sunshine 
of  a  spring  morning.  Surely  this  ought  to  be  the  ideal  way. 
And  it  is  the  possible  way  and  also  the  actual  way  for  large  num- 
bers of  God's  dear  children. 

What  a  blessed  thing  it  is  to  know  that  God  has  set  no  arbitrary 
standards  for  admission  to  His  kingdom.      Whether  we  come  as 


8; 

the  prodigal  came,  through  repentance  and  remission  of  sins  after 
a  period  of  waywardness  or  rebelHon,  or  as  the  young  Timothy, 
through  Christian  training  and  education ;  the  one  great  ques- 
tion is,  "Have  we  come  to  Jesus  and  given  our  hearts  to  Him 
in  loving  obedience."  Not  the  manner  of  our  entrance  to  the 
kingdom,  but  the  blessed  fact  that  we  are  actual  disciples  of 
the  Master  now  is  the  one  great  thing  to  be  considered.  The 
question  of  supreme  and  overshadowing  importance  is  not  the 
one  of  time,  or  place,  or  circumstances  of  our  coming  to  Christ, 
but  the  essential  fact  that  we  have  actually  come  to  Jesus,  that  He 
is  our  Saviour,  Redeemer  and  Friend,  here  and  now,  and  that  we 
love  Him  and  serve  Him  in  sincerity  and  in  truth  with  all  our 
hearts  and  with  all  our  souls,  with  all  our  strength  and  with  all 
our  might ;  and  that  we  love  our  neighbors  as  ourselves,  irrespec- 
tive of  when  that  love  began  to  manifest  itself  or  how  it  came  into 
our  hearts.  What  a  blessed  thing  it  is  that  we  are  not  called  upon 
to  give  an  account  of  where  we  first  met  Jesus  face  to  face,  or  when 
we  first  heard  the  voice  of  Jesus  say,  "Come  unto  me  and  I  will 
give  you  rest,"  and  heeded  its  pleading  tone,  or  even  how  we 
were  brought  into  loving  relationship  with  the  Master  so  that 
we  might  enjoy  His  precious  spiritual  companionship  without  inter- 
ruption. No !  No !  Not  how  we  came,  or  when  we  came,  or 
where  we  came  to  Jesus  and  learned  to  know  and  to  love  Him, 
but  that  we  came  to  a  saving  knowledge  of  our  heavenly  Father 
in  Christ  Jesus,  and  that  we  have  yielded  Him  the  loyal  homage  of 
our  hearts  and  the  loving  service  of  our  lives,  and  that  we  can 
say,  and  say  with  assurance  and  confidence,  as  Paul  could  say  to 
the  Colossians :  "I  know  whom  I  have  believed  and  am  per- 
suaded that  he  is  able  to  save  that  which  I  have  committed  unto  Him 
against  that  day,"  this  is  "the  one  thing  needful,"  this  is  the  supreme 
and  all-inclusive  question  of  our  lives.  If  we  know  ourselves  as 
children  of  God's  spiritual  household,  if  we  know  that  we  have 
given  our  hearts  unto  God  and  that  we  have  entrusted  our  lives 
to  His  keeping,  if  we  are  confident  that  we  have  submitted 
our  wills  to  His  blessed  will  and  that  our  supreme  desire  in  life  is 
to  do  the  will  of  God,  not  only  in  word  and  in  promise,  but  in 
^'deed  and  in  truth ;"  if  we  know  deep  down  in  our  hearts  that 


supreme  love  to  God  and  a  disinterested  love  to  our  fellowmen 
are  the  ruling  passions  of  our  lives,  then  we  may  rest  assured 
with  absolute  certainty  that  "it  is  well  with  our  souls,"  and  that 
our  title  to  membership  in  God's  spiritual  kingdom  is  absolute 
and  unimpeachable,  because  attested  by  Jesus  Christ  himself  when 
He  said :  "And  this  is  life  eternal,  to  know  thee  as  the  only 
true  God,  and  Jesus  Christ  whom  thou  didst  send,"  and  by  the 
seal  of  the  Holy  Spirit  in  the  words:  "As  many  as  received 
him  to  them  gave  he  power  to  become  the  sons  of  God,  even 
to  them  that  believe  on  his  name." 

The  following  verses  express  this  same  thought  most  beauti- 
fully and  may,  therefore,  serve  to  bring  this  part  of  our  treatise 
to  a  fitting  close : 


You  ask  me  hozv  I  gave  my  heart  to  Christ  ? 

I  do  not  know. 
There  came  a  yearning  for  Him  in  my  soul, 

So  long  ago. 
I  found  earth's  flowers  would  fade  and  die — 
I  wept  for  something  that  could  satisfy ; 
And  then — and  then — somehow  I  seemed  to  dare 
To  lift  my  broken  heart  to  Him  in  prayer. 

I  do  not  know — 

I  cannot  tell  you  how; 

I  only  know 

He  is  my  Saviour  now. 

You  ask  me  when  I  gave  my  heart  to  Christ  ? 

I  cannot  tell. 
The  day,  or  just  the  hour,  I  do  not  now 

Remember  well. 
It  must  have  been  when  I  was  all  alone 
The  light  of  His  forgiving  spirit  shone 
Into  my  heart,  so  clouded  o'er  with  sin; 
I  think — I  think  'twas  then  I  let  Him  in. 


89 

I  do  not  know — 

I  cannot  tell  you  when; 
I  only  know 

He  is  so  dear  since  then. 

You  ask  me  where  I  gave  my  heart  to  Christ  ? 

I  cannot  say. 
That  sacred  place  has  faded  from  my  sight, 

As  yesterday. 
Perhaps  He  thought  it  better  I  should  not 
Remember  where.     How  I  should  love  that  spot- 
I  think  I  could  not  tear  myself  away, 
For  I  should  wish  forever  there  to  stay. 

I  do  not  know — 

I  cannot  tell  you  where; 

I  only  know 

He  came  and  blessed  me  there. 

You  ask  me  why  I  thought  this  loving  Christ 

Would  heed  my  prayer? 
I  knew  He  died  upon  the  cross  for  me — 

I  nailed  Him  there? 
I  heard  His  dying  cry,  "Father,  forgive !" 
I  saw  Him  drink  death's  cup  that  I  might  live ; 
My  head  was  bowed  upon  my  breast  in  shame! 
He  called  me — and  in  penitence  I  came. 

He  heard  my  prayer! 
I  cannot  tell  you  how, 

Nor  when,  nor  where; 
Only  I  love  Him  now. 


PART  THREE. 

RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  IN 
CONVERSION. 


Conversion,  as  we  have  seen,  consists  in  a  radical  change  of 
heart  and  life  for  the  wilfully  and  deliberately  unrepentant,  and 
in  a  gradual  unfolding  of  the  religious  nature  through  Christian 
culture  for  the  child  of  religious  parents  and  surroundings.  What 
is  involved  in  these  fundamental  changes  has  been  discussed  under 
conversion.  It  will  be  the  purpose  of  this  portion  of  our  treat- 
ise to  consider  more  particularly  the  affective  experiences  of  con- 
version, and  to  discuss  what  the  states  and  changes  of  conversion 
are  in  respect  to  the  emotional  side  of  the  transaction.  The  term 
"religious  experience"  is  commonly  used  to  define  the  subjec- 
tive aspect  of  conversion.  It  is  that  element  in  conversion  which 
manifests  itself  in  the  feelings  rather  than  in  states  of  intelligence 
or  the  disposition  of  the  will.  Indeed,  the  question  is  frequently 
asked,  how  may  we  know  that  we  have  passed  from  death  unto 
life?  Are  there  not  some  subjective  states  of  religious  feeling 
which  are  the  test  and  proof  of  conversion?  Is  there  not  a  wit- 
ness of  the  spirit  by  which  we  may  know  with  certainty  that  we 
are  the  children  of  God?  In  other  words,  may  we  not  feel  with 
unmistakable  definiteness  and  spiritual  fervor  that  we  have 
experienced  the  new  birth,  and  that  we  have  entered  into  our 
spiritual  inheritance? 

Most  assuredly  there  is  an  emotional  element  in  religious  ex- 
perience which  is  not  to  be  ignored.  There  is  a  witness  of 
the  spirit  which  bears  witness  to  our  spirits  that  we  are  the 
children  of  God.  There  is  an  inner  attestation  of  the  reality 
of  the  new  birth  in  the  full  realization  of  new  spiritual  powers 

90 


91 

that  have  come  into  our  lives  through  conversion.  This  element 
of  feeling  in  the  religious  life,  which  is  an  accompaniment  of 
all  deep  religious  changes,  and  which  contributes  so  large  a 
measure  of  happiness  or  unhappiness  to  our  spiritual  states,  is 
the  emotional  element  in  religion,  or  so-called  religious  experience. 
It  is  not  a  matter  of  belief  nor  a  state  of  the  will.  It  is  what 
Jonathan  Edwards  calls  the  "Religious  Affections." 

L     Varieties  of  Religious  Experience* 

That  the  experiences  of  people  in  conversion  should  be  varied 
and  diverse  is  self-evident.  Men  have  widely  different  experi- 
ences in  all  the  other  interests  and  responsibilites  of  life.  No 
two  people  have  exactly  the  same  states  of  feeling  in  any  affair 
of  human  interest  or  human  activity.  It  is  only  natural,  there- 
fore, that  the  great  crises  of  the  religious  life,  the  times  and 
seasons  when  the  soul  wrestles  with  its  eternal  destiny,  should 
affect  different  natures  quite  differently.  Men  differ  widely 
in  temperament,  in  intellect,  in  social  and  religious  antecedents, 
in  power  of  feeling  and  capacity  for  expression.  All  these  fac- 
tors affect  men  very  differently  in  all  other  experiences  of  life. 
Why  should  they  not  affect  them  even  more  diversely  in  matters 
of  religious  experience?  The  spiritual  interests  of  man  are  his 
most  vital  and  his  most  important  concerns.  Man  is  most  pro- 
foundly affected  on  the  side  of  his  spiritual  nature.  Temporal 
and  eternal  destinies  are  determined  by  our  religious  attitude. 
And  when  the  great  religious  crises  come  upon  us,  and  the  soul 
wrestles  with  the  conflicting  forces  which  seek  to  take  posses- 
sion of  it,  then  we  may  expect  a  stirring  of  the  emotional  nature 
to  its  very  depth,  and  religious  experiences  as  varied  and  diverse 
as  human  souls  differ  in  temperament,  training  and  innate 
capacity.  On  the  other  hand,  the  soul  that  enters  into  the  ful- 
ness of  its  spiritual  experiences  through  the  gradual  process  of 
religious  development  and  growth  would  manifestly  not  require 
as  sudden  and  radical  changes  in  its  formative  processes,  and 
hence  would  not  be  so  likely  to  experience  such  pronounced  states 
of  religious  feeling. 


92 

In  general  we  may  say  there  are  four  distinct  types  of  religious 
•experience  in  conversion:  (i)  The  "revival"  type,  which  is  the 
product  of  strong  religious  excitement  and  which  is  usually  ac- 
companied by  excessive  emotion;  (2)  the  "spontaneous"  type, 
which  is  the  product  of  a  seemingly  spontaneous  religious  awa- 
kening not  in  a  public  gathering,  and  which  is  also  accompanied 
by  a  strong  emotional  element;  (3)  the  "volitional"  type,  in  which 
the  change  is  largely  one  of  moral  attitude,  unaccompanied  by 
much  religious  emotion;  (4)  the  "gradual-growth"  type,  or  the 
type  of  "Christian  culture,"  which  is  the  product  of  a  gradual 
unfolding  and  development  of  the  spiritual  nature  through  care- 
ful religious  training.  Both  the  revival  and  the  spontaneous 
types  are  accompanied  by  strong  emotional  disturbances,  and 
hence  might  be  properly  called  the  "emotional"  type  of  con- 
version, or  the  type  of  self-surrender.  The  "volitional"  type  and 
the  "gradual-growth"  type  consist  largely  in  the  intelligent 
choice  of  the  good  and  in  conscious  voluntary  effort  to  conform 
to  the  higher  spiritual  standards  and  requirements  as  revealed 
in  the  life  and  example  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  might  be  called 
the  "volitional"  type  of  conversion.  The  one  is  predominatingly 
emotional  in  character,  and  involves  usually  a  radical  and  often  a 
violent  change  of  disposition  and  feeling ;  the  other  is  prevailingly 
volitional,  and  involves  more  of  intelligent  choice  and  conscious 
effort  toward  spiritual  ends.  The  one  is  measured  largely  in 
terms  of  feeling;  the  other  in  terms  of  will  and  conscious  effort 
toward  benevolent  ends. 

J.     The  Emotional  Type  of  Conversion. 

This  is  the  type  which  Prof.  Starbuck  designates  the  "self- 
surrender"  type.  In  this  class  belong  the  people  whose  spiritual 
transformation  comes  suddenly  and  strikingly,  and  whose  ex- 
periences are  usually  vivid  and  intense  in  their  religious  fervor. 
The  striking  and  abrupt  changes  involved  in  the  emotional  type 
of  conversion  may  be  occasioned  by  special  religious  services 
and  by  a  more  or  less  continuous  state  of  religious  interest  and 
excitement.     It  occurs  usually  in  connection  with  revival  services 


93 

or  during  periods  of  high  reUgious  tension  of  some  kind  or 
other.  The  spontaneous  type  usually  has  a  deeper  origin  and 
cannot  be  attributed,  as  a  rule,  to  any  visible  or  tangible  influence 
as  the  occasion  or  cause  of  the  striking  changes  in  feeling  and 
disposition.  The  revival  type  is  produced  under  certain  well- 
known  religious  conditions  and  by  clearly  understood  religious 
causes,  and  usually  conforms  to  certain  accepted  standards  of 
experience.  The  spontaneous  type  is  of  a  more  remote  and  more 
mysterious  origin  and  occurs  under  widely  different  conditions  of 
religious  surroundings,  and  expresses  itself  not  infrequently  in 
unusual  forms  of  religious  experience.  In  both  types  the  reli- 
gious feelings  are  powerfully  and  profoundly  agitated.  Here  be- 
long the  people  who  pass  from  death  unto  life  with  a  struggle 
and  who  usually  experience  a  season  of  sorrow  and  anguish  for 
past  sins  before  conversion,  and  of  joy  and  rapture  in  the  pos- 
session of  peace  and  forgiveness  after  conversion.  It  is  not 
unusual  to  find  cases  of  the  most  extreme  and  violent  eruptions 
of  the  emotional  nature  in  this  type  of  experience.  The  sense 
of  sorrow  and  remorse  for  sin  during  the  period  of  conviction 
and  the  feeling  of  joy  and  spiritual  exaltation  after  the  sense  of 
relief  has  come  in  forgiveness  are  sometimes  so  pronounced  that 
they  take  the  form  of  tumultuous  and  violent  disturbances  of  the 
emotions,  resulting  not  infrequently  in  visions,  hallucinations, 
uncontrollable  movements  of  the  body  or  in  a  sudden  collapse 
of  the  nervous  system  in  a  dead  swoon.  With  people  of  strongly 
emotional  natures  and  under  intense  religious  excitement,  the 
most  extraordinary  inward  experiences  of  a  super-normal  and 
super-sensuous  character  may  be  had.  Thus  Jonathan  Edwards 
in  his  "Religious  Affections" :  "Some  have  impressed  upon  them 
ideas  of  a  great  outward  light,  and  this  they  call  a  spiritual  dis- 
covery of  God's  or  Christ's  glory.  Some  have  had  ideas  of 
Christ's  hanging  on  the  cross  and  His  blood  running  from  His 
wounds,  and  this  they  call  a  spiritual  sight  of  Christ  crucified, 
the  way  of  salvation  by  His  blood.  Some  have  had  lively  ideas 
of  heaven  and  of  Christ  on  His  throne  there,  and  shining  ranks 
of  saints  and  angels ;  and  this  they  call  seeing  heaven  opened 
to  them.     Some   from   time  to  time  have  had  a  livelv  idea  of 


94 

a  person  of  a  beautiful  countenance  smiling  upon  them ;  and 
this  they  call  a  spiritual  discovery  of  the  love  of  Christ  to  their 
souls.  And  they  regard  these  things  as  spiritual  discoveries,  for 
they  can  see  them  when  their  eyes  were  shut.  And  in  like  man- 
ner, the  imaginations  of  some  have  been  impressed  with  ideas  of 
the  sense  of  hearing.  They  have  had  ideas  of  Christ's  speaking 
comforting  words  to  them,  or  of  explaining  passages  of  Scrip- 
ture. These  things  they  have  called  hearing  the  voice  of  Christ 
spiritually  in  their  hearts,  having  the  witness  of  the  spirit,  and 
the  inward  testimony  of  the  love  of  Christ."  Edwards  remarks 
in  this  connection  that  while  some  people  regard  these  peculiar 
and  special  inner  manifestations  as  supernatural,  he  does  not,  be- 
cause they  can  be  explained  on  other  grounds.  He  adds :  "It  is 
known  by  abundant  experience  that  it  is  not  the  advancing  or 
perfecting  human  nature  which  makes  persons  more  capable  of 
having  such  lively  and  strong  imaginary  ideas,  but  that  on  the 
contrary,  the  weakness  of  body  and  mind  and  distempers  of 
body,  make  persons  abundantly  more  suggestive  of  such  im- 
pressions." And  yet  Jonathan  Edwards  was  a  strong  believer 
in  the  emotional  type  of  conversion  and  in  the  value  of  the 
religious  affections. 

That  many  of  the  strong  religious  characters  of  history  have 
been  of  this  rather  extreme  emotional  type  is  abundantly  illus- 
trated by  such  religious  leaders  as  Paul,  Augustine,  Luther,  Wes- 
ley, John  Bunyan,  Jonathan  Edwards  and  many  others.  Such 
powerful  emotional  natures  joined  to  vigorous  intellects  and  well- 
balanced  wills  constitute  the  religious  geniuses  of  the  world;  men 
who  move  the  world  mightily  on  the  religious  side  by  their  influ- 
ence and  who  shape  the  policies  of  religious  organizations  and 
who  formulate  the  dogmas  of  religious  belief  for  the  churches. 
These  are  the  men  of  powerful  religious  impulses  and  of  fear- 
less religious  convictions.  Their  emotional  currents  run  rapidly 
and  usually  unevenly.  Their  emotional  states  lack  equilibrium. 
Such  lives  are  more  or  less  stormy  and  agitated,  but  they  are 
never  dull.  Religious  leaders  of  this  type  have  strong  convic- 
tions of  truth,  warm  affections  for  friends,  and  a  lively  hatred 
for  their  enemies.     They  are  impatient  of  delay.     They  can,  with 


95 

difficulty,  brook  resistance.  They  grow  restless  under  oppo- 
sition, and  often  appear  arbitrary  and  dictatorial  in  their  spiritual 
demands.  Such  natures  make  typical  religious  leaders.  They 
condemn  sin  in  vigorous  terms  and  with  an  unsparing  hand, 
because  they  themselves  once  tasted  its  bitterness  and  hollowness. 
They  are  ever  ready  to  call  down  fire  from  heaven  to  con- 
sume their  enemies.  They  can  stir  men's  souls  to  lofty  enthusi- 
asm because  they  themselves  are  full  of  glowing  inspiration. 
These  are  the  spectacular  and  dramatic  men  of  religious  history. 
Thus  we  have  a  Paul  before  a  frenzied  mob,  defending  him- 
self and  declaring  his  innocence;  a  Luther,  fearless  and  even 
defiant,  before  the  assembled  nobles  of  the  temporal  and  spiritual 
realm;  a  John  Knox,  making  kings  and  queens  tremble  in  fear 
and  anger  upon  their  thrones.  That  such  impulsive  and  passionate 
natures  should  experience  unusual  religious  agitation  and  exalta- 
tion of  spirit  is,  therefore,  a  thing  to  be  expected,  and  marks 
them  as  men  of  unusual  power  and  influence. 

On  the  other  hand,  these  strong,  emotional  natures,  uncon- 
trolled by  a  vigorous  intellect  and  by  a  firm,  steady  will,  become 
the  religious  cranks  of  the  world  and  the  pious  fanatics  of  reli- 
gious bodies.  In  the  case  of  many  such  extreme  emotional  natures, 
the  religious  feelings  color  the  entire  life  of  the  individual. 
Religion  for  such  natures  consists  more  in  an  enjoyable  state  of 
feeling  than  in  an  attitude  of  the  benevolent  will.  And  as  the 
feelings  are  bound  to  fluctuate,  the  religion  of  such  natures  is 
bound  to  fluctuate  with  the  feelings,  and  to  be  unsteady  and  un- 
even in  its  life  and  flow  of  spirit.  Religion  as  benevolent  char- 
acter and  as  social  service  has  for  such  people  little  attraction 
unless  it  bubbles  over  with  excitement  and  is  aglow  with 
feeling.  This  is  one  extreme  as  over  against  the  cold,  unfeeling 
intellectuality  of  the  other  extreme.  The  great  danger  is  that  this 
type  of  religious  experience  may  be  regarded  as  the  normal  type, 
whereas  the  real  facts  in  the  case  are  that  it  is  the  abnormal 
and  extreme  type.  And  although  such  natures  have  their  due 
place  in  the  church  and  contribute  the  largest  measure  of  service 
to  the  music  of  the  church  and  to  the  encouragement  of  the  prayer- 
meeting,  and  to  the  support  of  all  religious  enterprises  by  word 
7 


96 

of  mouth,  yet  their  real  influence  is  frequently  discounted  and 
their  efforts  underrated  because  of  their  emotional  extravagance 
and  their  seeming  inconsistency  and  hypocrisy. 

In  every  typical  case  of  emotional  conversion  there  is  pres- 
ent in  the  consciousness  of  the  penitent  a  sense  of  sin  and  guilt 
involving  dissatisfaction  with  and  remorse  for  past  life,  and  a 
sense  of  relief  and  equilibrium  after  the  crisis  has  been  passed, 
manifesting  itself  in  varying  degrees  of  happiness  and  religious 
exaltation.  But  the  motives  which  lead  to  the  crisis  of  regenera- 
tion, the  particular  states  of  unhappiness  preceding  and  of  hap- 
piness following  the  act  of  self-surrender  are  various  and  manifold. 
They  make  an  interesting  study. 

Prof.  Starbuck  in  his  analysis  of  numerous  cases  of  emo- 
tional conversion,  as  given  in  his  "Psychology  of  Religion,"  finds 
the  motives  for  taking  the  decisive  step  of  self-surrender  into 
the  Christian  life  many  and  varied.  They  seem  to  fall  naturally 
into  eight  groups:  fears,  other  self-regarding  motives,  altruistic 
motives,  following  out  a  moral  ideal,  remorse  and  conviction  for 
sin,  response  to  teaching,  example  and  imitation,  urging,  and  other 
forms  of  social  pressure.  As  Prof.  Starbuck  points  out,  such  ex- 
pressions occur  among  the  numerous  replies  received :  "The  ter- 
rors of  hell  were  dwelt  on  at  revival  until  I  became  so  scared 
I  cried,"  writes  one.  Another  one:  "I  wanted  the  approval  of 
others."  And  again :  "Father  had  died  and  I  thought  I  would 
get  to  meet  him."  Still  another  wrote:  "I  felt  I  must  be  better 
and  do  more  good  in  the  world."  "It  was  love  for  God  who 
had  done  so  much  for  me."  A  desire  for  a  higher  ideal  of  life 
led  one  to  write:  "I  had  a  yearning  for  a  higher  ideal  of  life.'' 
"I  wanted  to  be  good  and  to  control  my  anger  and  passions." 
Under  remorse  and  conviction  we  have  such  expressions  as  these : 
"I  was  thoroughly  convicted  of  sin."  "Remorse  for  my  past  con- 
duct was  my  chief  motive."  "My  sins  were  very  plain  to  me." 
Another  one  writes :  "Mother  talked  to  me  and  made  the  way  of 
salvation  plain."  "A  pleading  word  from  my  teacher  helped  me." 
And  again:  "I  saw  so  many  becoming  good  that  I  just  had 
to  become  a  Christian."  Here  we  have  the  example  of  others  as  a 
strong  motive.      It  appears  from  these  examples  and  from  many 


97 

others  which  might  be  quoted  that  fears  of  hell  and  punishment 
have  greater  prominence  than  hope  of  heaven  and  love  for  Christ 
in  the  emotional  type  of  conversion.  These  statistics  show  what 
a  small  part  rational  considerations  usually  play  in  this  kind  of 
conversion.  And  this  may  account  for  the  fact  that  there  are 
so  many  cases  of  back-sliding  and  failure  in  the  revival  type  of 
conversion.  The  feelings  are  usually  too  strongly  excited,  the 
intelligence  and  the  reason  are  not  sufficiently  consulted  and  hence 
no  profound  moral  change  is  wrought  in  the  will,  with  the  usual 
result,  moral  failure  and  a  "falling  from  grace." 

The  emotional  states  accompanying  and  following  conversion 
of  this  type  are  equally  diverse.  There  is  a  great  difference  in 
the  intensity  of  the  emotions,  from  almost  no  perceptible  feeling 
on  the  one  hand  to  examples  of  the  most  vivid  and  intense 
experiences  of  pain  and  joy  at  the  other  extreme.  Various  terms 
are  used  by  Prof.  Starbuck's  respondents  to  define  the  emotional 
content  during  conversion.  Such  expressions  as  these  are  used : 
•'While  I  was  struggling  in  prayer,  I  felt  a  peace  within.  A 
calm  came  over  me."  "I  prayed  and  cried  to  God  for  help. 
I  wandered  four  years,  seeking  rest."  "After  much  prayer  I 
surrendered  completely  and  had  the  assurance  that  I  was  accepted." 
"I  determined  to  yield  my  heart  and  life  to  God's  service."  One 
writes:  "I  seemed  to  hear  Jesus  speak  words  of  forgiveness." 
Another  one:  "I  rose  for  prayer  and  felt  relieved."  Here  is  a 
striking  case:  "After  failing  of  relief  at  revival,  I  was  singing 
songs  by  myself  at  home.  After  I  got  through  singing  I  sat 
and  thought,  'Why,  God  does  forgive  me  and  if  I  live  right  he 
will  help  me.'  "  The  expected  feeling  did  not  come  but  a  sense 
of  relief  and  assurance  came.  Another  one  found  relief  during 
sleep:  "I  read  the  Bible  and  prayed  far  into  the  night.  Then 
I  went  to  sleep  and  during  the  night  the  thing  had  cleared  itself 
up  in  my  mind  and  I  was  ready  to  live  or  die  by  it."  This 
was  purely  emotional  and  unconscious  without  any  element  of 
choice.  Another  one  writes:  "The  witness  of  the  spirit  that  I 
was  a  child  of  God  was  very  clear."  And  again :  "It  was  a 
sudden  awakening  so  I  could  say  in  my  heart,  our  Father  in 
heaven."      Self-surrender,    yielding   the    personal    will    to    God's 


98 

will,  a  sense  of  sins  forgiven,  a  feeling  of  oneness  with  God, 
a  sense  of  buoyancy  and  of  joy  and  of  bodily  lightness,  weep- 
ing and  shouting,  peace  and  quietness  of  spirit,  a  sense  of  great 
relief  as  of  a  burden  lifted;  these  and  similar  states  of  feeling 
are  experienced  by  different  ones  under  emotional  pressure.  In 
the  more  extreme  cases  of  emotional  conversion,  the  feelings  are 
reduced  to  the  last  degree  of  tension  and  then  recoil.  They 
are  pent  up  and  suddenly  burst.  Life  appears  to  force  itself  to 
the  farthest  extreme  in  a  given  direction,  and  then  to  break  forth 
into  free  activity  in  another  direction.  Perhaps  the  purest  type 
of  self-surrender  is  found  in  such  cases  of  conversion  as  those 
of  drunkards,  like  John  B.  Gough  and  H.  H.  Hadley. 

It  is  to  be  noted  also,  in  accordance  with  Prof.  Starbuck's  analysis 
of  conversion-cases  that  joy  and  the  intenser  emotions  are  more 
frequently  with  males,  while  the  sense  of  oneness  and  acceptance 
is  with  females;  also,  that  the  cases  of  physical  and  nervous 
excitability  are  more  numerous  in  the  cases  of  conversion  in 
religious  gatherings,  while  the  calmer  spiritual  experiences  of 
peace,  happiness  and  the  feeling  of  acceptance  with  God  are  more 
characteristic  of  the  cases  of  conversion  at  home  and  alone.  The 
comparison  in  the  same  persons  of  the  feelings  before  conver- 
sion and  after  conversion  is  also  suggestive.  In  general,  it  may 
be  said  that  the  more  deeply  and  violently  the  emotions  were  dis- 
turbed before  conversion  the  intenser  the  experiences  of  joy 
and  exaltation  will  be  after  conversion.  Or,  as  Prof.  Starbuck 
puts  it :  "The  disposition  which  feels  keenly  before  conversion 
reacts  violently  at  the  crisis  and  has  the  more  intense  experiences 
afterward.  Those  who  are  thrown  back  on  themselves  and  ex- 
perience markedly  the  sense  of  sin  and  depression  are  the  ones 
who  are  thrown  vigorously  in  the  direction  of  the  new  life. 
It  will  be  observed  also  that  the  temperament  which  shuts  itself 
against  new  influences,  as  evidenced  by  resistance  before  con- 
version rarely  ever  experiences  joy;  while  on  the  contrary  a  more 
open  nature,  as  indicated  by  prayer  and  effort,  feels  joy  and 
acceptance  afterward." 

The  results  of  the  emotional  type  of  conversion,  of  both  the 
revival  and  the  spontaneous  type,  are,  of  course,  varied.      For 


99 

many  the  process  is  one  of  enlarged  powers  and  of  increased 
capacity  for  usefulness  and  service.  The  high  spiritual  plane 
reached  by  some  converts  under  great  stress  of  feeling  is  to 
many  a  precious  memory  and  a  constant  source  of  inspiration. 
On  the  other  hand,  large  numbers  find  the  exalted  states  of  the 
new  life  slip  away  from  them  in  the  common  round  of  duties 
to  be  performed  and  they  relapse  again  into  coldness  and  indif- 
ference. That  numbers  of  God's  children  are  swept  into  the 
kingdom  by  the  strong  currents  of  religious  feeling,  either  in- 
cited in  public  gatherings  or  spontaneously  awakened  in  quiet 
and  solitude,  is  abundantly  illustrated  by  the  testimony  of  his- 
tory and  of  human  experience.  That  the  results  of  many  of  these 
emotional  conversions  are  far-reaching  and  permanent  cannot  be 
doubted.  That  many  hopeful  converts,  buoyantly  swept  along 
at  first  by  strong  religious  excitement  and  supremely  happy  for 
a  while  in  a  new-found  peace  and  joy,  soon  experience  a  loss 
of  religious  glow,  become  discouraged  and  disheartened,  and  even- 
tually drop  out  by  the  wayside,  cannot  be  doubted  either.  Revul- 
sions of  feeling  must  inevitably  come  as  a  reaction  from  the  high 
tension  of  nervous  excitement.  And  this  is  followed  in  its  track 
by  countless  cases  of  back-sliding,  whose  last  state  unfortunately 
is  often  worse  than  the  first.  The  dangers  of  emotionalism  in 
religion  are  only  too  apparent.  As  President  David  Starr  Jordan, 
of  Leland  Stanford  University,  says  (as  quoted  by  Prof. 
Starbuck)  :  "Sterile  emotions  are  not  religion,  and  hysteria  of 
the  same  nature  as  drunkenness  may  be  even  more  dangerous,  be- 
cause it  is  insidious,  and  because  it  may  come  under  the  protection 
of  the  honored  church.  It  is  certain  that  chronic  religious  excite- 
ment is  destructive  to  the  higher  life.  The  great  efforts  put  forth 
to  save  the  sinner,  should  not  be  used  as  a  dissipation  for  those 
who  believe  themselves  saints." 

2.     The  Volitional  Type  of  Conversion. 

In  this  type  of  conversion  "the  regenerative  change  is  usually 
gradual  and  consists  in  building  up,  piece  by  piece,  of  a  new  set  of 
moral  and  spiritual  habits."     In  adults  the  process  partakes  more 


I(DO 

of  the  nature  of  reform  or  a  breaking"  away  from  old  habits  and 
forming  new  habits.  In  children  it  is  a  gradual  unfolding  of 
the  child's  religious  nature  through  wise  and  sympathetic  moral 
training.  The  one  type  involves  a  double  process,  a  breaking 
away  from  a  life  of  sin  and  a  building  up  of  a  life  of  obedience 
and  righteousness.  The  determining  factor  is  the  will,  a  conscious 
choice.  This  is  the  type  of  the  prodigal.  The  other  type  is  one 
of  gradual  development,  of  awakened  powers,  of  new  relations. 
of  building  by  degrees  in  the  consciousness  of  the  child  a  moral 
attitude  of  trust  in  God  and  union  with  His  spirit.  Both  types 
emphasize  the  supreme  importance  of  the  rational  will  in  the 
conscious  choice  of  the  good  in  life.  Both  types  subordinate 
the  feelings  to  their  normal  place  and  lay  stress  upon  the  neces- 
sity of  building  the  Christian  character  upon  the  substantial 
elements  of  rational  thought  and  the  benevolent  will.  It  is  the 
Scriptural  type.  The  wilfully  disobedient  is  to  turn  away  from 
evil  and  to  learn  to  do  good.  He  is  to  crucify  his  flesh,  to  abandon 
the  old  life  and  follow  the  Master  in  the  new  life  of  the  spirit, 
whatever  his  feelings  in  the  matter  may  be.  Or  it  is  the  type  of 
the  young  Samuel,  hearing  the  voice  of  God  calling  to  him  in 
the  temple  to  a  larger  life ;  or  of  the  young  Timothy,  of  pious 
parentage,  who  was  taught  to  know  the  Scriptures  from  his 
youth  up  and  to  consider  himself  a  member  of  the  spiritual  house- 
hold of  faith  by  virtue  of  his  Christian  training  and  education. 

This  more  quiet  and  less  dramatic  kind  of  religious  experience 
must  be  recognized  as  just  as  valid  and  useful  as  the  more  vio- 
lent and  dramatic  kind.  And  yet,  as  Prof.  Bowne  tells  us  in 
his  "Immanence  of  God,"  "there  has  been  a  very  general  tendency 
in  the  history  of  the  church  to  look  upon  emotional  ebulliencies, 
anarchic  raptures,  anomalous  and  spectacular  experiences  as  the 
truly  classical  manifestations  of  religion."  And  it  is  even  now 
too  much  the  fashion  in  some  quarters  and  by  some  narrow  and 
uncharitable  religionists  of  the  emotional  type,  to  assert  that  there 
can  be  no  genuine  conversion,  no  true,  saving  states  of  grace, 
without  the  violent  experiences  of  a  sudden  and  striking  emotional 
conversion.  This  view  is  unwarranted  by  Scripture  and  unsub- 
stantiated by  healthy  Christian  experience.     Just  as  we  have  to 


lOI 

recognize  the  validity  and  reality  of  the  intenser  kinds  of  re- 
ligious feeling  in  conversion,  when  it  occurs  under  strong  religious 
excitement  as  well  as  strong  social  excitement,  so  we  must  with 
equal  justice  and  for  like  reasons,  recognize  the  reality  and  the 
validity  of  a  less  dramatic  experience  of  conversion  or  of  a  less 
spectacular  entrance  into  the  kingdom.  "The  wind  bloweth  where 
it  listeth."  It  also  bloweth  how  it  listeth.  Its  strength  and  effect 
are  not  alike  in  all  cases.  The  presence  of  the  spirit  is  not  always 
nor  even  usually  with  demonstrations  of  power  and  the  excite- 
ment of  the  spirit.  The  operations  of  the  divine  spirit  on  the 
soul  are  usually  without  excitement  or  confusion.  Not  in  the 
earthquake,  nor  in  the  fire,  nor  in  the  whirlwind,  but  in  the  "still 
small  voice,"  did  Elijah  detect  the  presence  of  the  spirit  and  power 
of  God. 

It  has  been  too  much  the  custom  in  some  religious  bodies  to 
lay  stress  upon  the  more  striking  and  explosive  types  of  religious 
experience,  and  to  underestimate  or  else  to  ignore  entirely,  the 
more  quiet  and  unobtrusive  kind,  which  is  after  all  the  normal 
and  ideal  type.  Some  men  enter  the  kingdom  by  shouting  and 
hallelujahs,  but  the  larger  proportion  by  the  more  quiet  and 
more  uneventful  method  of  simply  doing  the  will  of  God  and 
trusting  in  the  loving  kindness  of  the  heavenly  Father.  There 
are  souls  who  must  pass  through  conflict  and  strife  into  the 
state  of  redemption,  not  because  God  must  be  importuned  and 
wrestled  with,  as  though  He  were  unwilling  to  grant  His  favor, 
but  because  their  own  pride  and  stubbornness  of  will  are  unwill- 
ing to  yield  in  self-surrender  without  a  struggle.  But  most 
assuredly  not  all  the  children  of  the  kingdom  are  obliged  to  pass 
through  a  "storm  and  stress"  period  before  they  can  find  peace 
with  God.  The  great  saints  of  the  kingdom  have  had  unusual 
careers  of  struggle  and  conflict,  of  vision  and  ecstasy.  But  not 
so  the  rank  and  file  of  the  army  of  God's  host.  To  take  the 
unusual,  the  extraordinary  and  the  striking  kind  of  religious 
experience  as  the  ideal  type  to  be  sought  after  and  to  be  culti- 
vated is  to  set  false  and  unnatural  standards.  To  ignore  the 
common,  everyday  simple  life  of  faith  and  trust  of  the  average 
child  of  God   is  both  a  wrong  and  an  injustice.      It  is  surely 


I02 

important  that  the  full  value  of  a  simple,  trustful  life  of  faith 
should  receive  more  abundant  recognition  in  the  literature  of 
the  Christian  church  and  in  the  language  of  religious  leaders  in 
public  gatherings.  For  most  children  of  Christian  parentage  and 
surroundings  the  religious  life,  if  carefully  and  sympathetically 
trained,  is  one  of  gradual  unfolding,  not  to  be  measured  in  terms 
of  emotional  content,  nor  to  be  marked  off  by  periods  of  religious 
ecstasy.  The  men  who  have  been  raised  after  the  manner  of  Dr. 
E.  E.  Hale,  who  says  he  always  knew  God  loved  him,  are  the 
representatives  of  what  Prof.  James  calls  the  "once  born,"  the 
types  of  "healthy-mindedness,"  the  natures  who  are  born  "with 
an  inner  constitution  which  is  harmonious  and  well-balanced 
from  the  outset,  and  whose  impulses  are  consistent  one  with 
another,  and  whose  wills  follow  without  trouble  the  guidance 
of  their  intellect,  whose  passions  are  not  excessive  and  whose 
lives  are  little  haunted  by  regret."  "So  that  the  awakening  of  the 
new  life  for  them  comes  as  quietly  as  the  growth  of  a  plant, 
and  it  is  impossible  to  mark  off  periods  of  growth  in  their  religious 
development,"  as  P'rof.  Starbuck  would  say.  To  be  raised  in 
a  Christian  family,  to  be  dedicated  at  an  early  age  to  the  service 
of  God  in  prayer  by  Christian  parents,  to  be  brought  from  child- 
hood's early  dawn  to  love  and  to  do  the  right  for  Jesus'  sake,  to 
be  early  imbued  with  the  goodness  and  mercy  of  a  kind  heavenly 
Father,  to  be  willing  and  ready  to  accept  new  truths  or  new  obliga- 
tions as  they  may  be  presented  to  the  childish  understanding 
by  loving  parents  or  faithful  teachers,  to  love  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  with  all  the  earnestness  and  intensity  of  a  child's  affec- 
tionate nature,  to  be  conscious  of  one's  self-surrender  to  the 
holy  will  of  God  for  a  life  of  trust  and  service,  and  to  continue 
thus  with  increasing  earnestness  of  purpose  and  renewed  loyalty 
to  the  pure  and  unselfish  ideals  of  one's  early  spiritual  enthusiasm 
to  the  end  of  life,  this  surely  is  a  possible  experience  because 
lovingly  and  reverently  attested  by  thousands  who  have  known 
of  no  other  way.  It  is  the  ideal  way.  Why  should  not  all  of 
God's  children  learn  to  love  and  serve  their  heavenly  Father 
from  childhood  up  and  never  depart  from  the  Father's  presence 
and  loving  companionship? 


I03 

A  child  of  God  who  is  early  brought  to  the  temple  and  dedi- 
cated to  the  service  of  God,  as  the  young  Samuel  was,  or  who 
has  a  Christian  mother  and  grandmother  to  teach  him  the  Scrip- 
tures and  the  way  of  God  from  childhood  up,  as  the  young 
Timothy  had,  has  surely  many  advantages  over  the  one  who  has 
been  living  persistently  and  wilfully  for  a  longer  or  shorter  period 
of  time,  a  life  of  sin  and  rebellion  against  God.  He  may  not 
have  the  exalted  and  entrancing  vision  of  an  overwrought  emo- 
tional conversion,  but  neither  does  he  have  the  recollection  of 
the  bitterness  and  hollowness  of  a  sinful  and  wasted  life.  He 
may  not  be  able  to  tell  the  times  and  the  seasons,  nor  the  par- 
ticular place  and  hour,  when  he  was  brought  into  the  kingdom, 
but  he  does  know  the  more  blessed  fact  that  he  has  passed  from 
death  unto  life  and  occupies  an  humble  place  in  the  kingdom, 
because  he  loves  the  brethren.  He  may  have  blundered  and 
fallen  into  momentary  sin  at  times  and  thus  repeated  the  ex- 
perience of  the  prodigal  on  a  small  scale,  but  he  never  remained 
for  any  length  of  time  away  from  the  Father's  house  in  a  state 
of  conscious  estrangement  from  the  Father.  He  may  not  have 
the  witness  of  the  spirit  as  a  seal  of  certainty  with  supernatural 
attestation  of  divine  power,  but  he  has  the  quiet  and  peaceful 
assurance  of  knowledge  and  conviction  so  that  he  can  say  with 
Paul :  "I  know  whom  I  have  believed  and  am  persuaded  that  he 
is  able  to  keep  that  which  I  have  committed  unto  him  against 
that  day."  He  does  have  new  experiences  of  God's  love, 
new  joys  and  satisfaction  in  His  service,  new  vistas  of  His  glory 
as  he  goes  on  in  his  Christian  life  and  career,  but  these  are  not 
evidences  of  new  experiences  in  conversion ;  they  are  simply 
stages  in  his  Christian  development,  steps  in  his  spiritual  unfold- 
ing, tokens  of  the  soul's  spiritual  health  and  enlargement. 

3.     Room  for  Both  Types  of  Experience. 

It  is  only  fair  and  just  at  this  point  to  state  that  there  are 
endless  varieties  of  Christian  experience  which  pass  by  almost 
imperceptible  gradations  from  the  striking  explosive  type  of 
emotional    conversion    to    the    quiet,    unassertive    type    of    inner 


I04 

assurance  and  of  childlike  trust  in  God's  goodness  and  mercy.  No 
two  people  have  just  exactly  the  same  kind  of  experience.  What- 
ever the  causes  may  be  for  the  great  variety  of  religious  experience, 
and  however  widely  they  may  differ  in  degree  and  quality,  we 
are  in  duty  bound  to  recognize  in  others  the  reality  and  worth 
of  their  own  individual  experiences.  The  emotional  religionist 
is  very  apt  to  question  the  genuineness  of  any  other  kind  of  re- 
ligious experience  not  conforming  to  his  own  individual  type. 
He  is  tempted  to  insist  on  a  state  of  conflict  and  struggle,  fol- 
lowed by  an  experience  of  joy  and  satisfaction,  as  the  only  pos- 
sible condition  of  entrance  to  the  new  life.  And  if  he  has  been 
brought  up  in  the  strictly  revivalistic  churches,  he  is  likely  to 
insist  on  the  anxious  bench,  on  public  confession  and  on  an  ex- 
perience of  the  "Power"  as  the  only  possible  conditions  of  sal- 
vation ;  as  though  God's  spirit  was  limited  to  times  and  places 
and  His  power  circumscribed  by  the  narrow  walls  of  a  sectarian 
church.  On  the  other  hand,  the  representatives  of  the  unemo- 
tional type  of  conversion  are  apt  to  look  with  disfavor  upon  the 
more  dramatic  experiences  of  their  emotional  brethren.  They 
are  inclined  to  doubt  the  reality  of  any  experience  more  striking 
or  more  pronounced  than  that  of  their  own.  They  are  tempted 
to  question  the  honesty  and  sincerity  of  much  of  the  testimony 
of  the  ordinary  prayer-meeting  services,  especially  when  it  comes 
from  the  lips  of  those  whose  conduct  harmonizes  so  poorly  with 
their  professions.  There  undoubtedly  is  much  that  is  superficial 
and  ungenuine  in  the  current  religious  testimony  of  supernatu- 
ralism  in  experience.  The  methods  employed  to  bring  about  the 
desired  results  cannot  fail  to  produce  much  shallowness  and 
hypocrisy.  Yet  we  must  be  charitable.  We  are  in  duty  bound, 
as  members  of  the  body  of  Christ,  to  believe  in  each  other's 
experience,  and  not  to  set  ourselves  up  as  judges  and  condemn 
others,  who  are  not  of  our  own  individual  type  of  Christian  ex- 
perience, to  outer  darkness  and  perdition,  as  though  the  human 
heart  was  an  instrument  of  only  one  string.  The  emotional  nature 
of  man  is  a  most  complex  and  a  most  expressive  instrument  of 
human  experience.  The  spirit  of  God  can  play  upon  it  with 
endless  variety  of  inner  music.      But  the  value  of  the  music  is 


105 

determined  by  the  character  of  the  one  whose  hands  touch  the 
strings  and  make  it  to  vibrate.  Not  the  instrument  but  the  player 
is  the  matter  of  greatest  moment.  The  strong,  virile,  resolute 
hand  of  the  benevolent  will,  playing  upon  the  responsive  instru- 
ment of  our  emotional  nature,  may  produce  harmonious  music  of 
great  sweetness  and  purity. 

The  chief  thing  is  not  feeling,  nor  ecstasy,  but  benevolence 
and  good  will.  "Not  by  might,  nor  by  power,  but  by  my  spirit, 
saith  the  Lord."  He  that  hath  the  spirit  is  a  child  of  God,  what- 
ever the  quality  or  intensity  of  his  religious  experience  may  have 
been  in  conversion.  As  Dr.  Hyde  says,  in  his  "God's  Education 
of  Man":  "The  man  who  has  this  disposition  (i.  e.,  devout  ac- 
ceptance of  the  will  of  the  Father),  has  God  in  his  life,  Christ 
in  his  heart  and  the  Holy  Spirit  in  his  soul.  It  matters  not 
whether  he  got  it  at  the  first  hour  or  at  the  eleventh,  whether- 
through  Jewish  law  or  Greek  philosophy,  whether  in  the  cathedral 
or  in  a  Methodist  chapel,  whether  the  articles  of  his  creed  are  thirty- 
nine  or  none,  whether  he  succeed  in  living  up  to  his  aim  or  per- 
petually fails,  whether  he  can  thank  God  that  he  is  not  like  other 
men,  or  can  simply  cry,  'Lord,  be  merciful  to  me  a  sinner.'  No 
man  or  woman  to-day  holds  so  false  a  creed,  or  accepts  so  false  a 
philosophy,  or  knows  so  little  or  so  much  of  Christ,  or  has  so 
bad  a  record,  or  so  weak  a  will,  or  so  irritable  a  temper,  or  so 
sensuous  a  temperament,  that  he  or  she  need  remain  for  one 
instant  outside  the  kingdom  of  God  in  consequence.  For  the  one 
thing  needful,  the  rock  foundation,  the  oil  that  lights  the  lamp 
of  life,  the  sap  that  makes  the  branch  a  member  of  the  vine,  the 
blood  relationship  which  makes  one  a  brother  or  sister  of  the 
Christ,  is  the  sincere  disposition  to  do  the  will  of  God." 

II.     Some  Reasons  for  the  Large  Variety  of  Religious 
Experience  in  Conversion. 

Experiences  in  matters  of  religion  are  varied  for  the  same  reason 
that  they  are  not  uniform  in  other  matters  of  human  interest. 
And  we  might  w^ell  expect  larger  variety  and  greater  differences 
in  both  kind  and  degree  in  this  department  of  our  emotional  life. 


io6 

for  the  simple  reason  that  religious  concerns  affect  us  more 
profoundly  than  any  other  interest  in  life.  Our  religious  natures 
are  fundamentally  and  unchangeably  predominant  in  the  organiza- 
tion of  our  affective  life.  "Man  is  incurably  religious,"  as  has 
been  so  well  said.  His  religious  instincts  are  most  active  and 
influential  in  determining  his  conduct  and  manner  of  life  from 
childhood  to  old  age.  They  are  among  the  most  persistent  and 
most  potent  of  all  the  implanted  dispositions  and  impulses  of  the 
human  soul.  It  is  practically  impossible  to  eradicate  the  religious 
impulses  of  the  soul  even  by  neglect  and  disuse.  They  will  assert 
themselves  in  the  most  striking  and  impressive  manner  in  great 
crises  of  human  life.  Man  cannot  get  away  from  the  simple  fact 
that  he  is  more  than  body  and  more  than  nerves  and  thinking 
powers.  His  moral  nature  is  a  distinguishing  characteristic 
Vhich  separates  him  by  an  impassable  gulf  even  from  the  most 
intelligent  and  most  highly  developed  of  the  lower  animals.  The 
solemn  and  inexorable  demands  of  the  soul  in  matters  of  duty 
and  conscience  are  among  the  most  awe-inspiring  facts  of  human 
existence.  The  sublime  grandeur  of  the  heavens  and  the  solemn 
mystery  of  human  obligation  in  authoritative  dictums  of  "Thou 
shalt"  and  "Thou  shalt  not"  were  the  two  most  impressive  facts  in 
human  life  to  the  great  German  philosopher  Kant.  The  moral 
life,  as  expressed  in  the  human  conscience,  relates  us  not  only 
to  other  sentient  beings  to  whom  we  owe  something,  but  also  to 
the  Creator  and  Maker  of  us  all  "with  whom  we  have  to  do." 
We  cannot  get  away  from  duty.  We  cannot  get  away  from 
conscience.     We  cannot  get  away  from  God. 

Religion  grows  out  of  our  moral  constitution.  Its  roots  are 
imbedded  within  us  in  undying  instincts  and  elemental  impulses. 
These,  uncontrolled  and  untamed,  may  lead  to  the  grossest 
religious  practices  and  to  the  vilest  religious  excesses.  On  the 
other  hand,  if  they  are  held  in  sway  by  intelligence  and  reason 
and  under  the  energizing  influences  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  they  lead 
to  the  loftiest  acts  of  self-sacrifice  and  to  the  noblest  deeds  of 
moral  heroism.  The  soil  for  a  multiform  religious  life  is,  there- 
fore, inexhaustibly  fertile.  It  is  rich  in  the  elements  which  make 
great  variety  in  religious  experience  not  only  possible  but  even 


I07 

necessary  and  unavoidable.  We  need  not  wonder,  therefore,  why 
the  religious  elements  are  so  all-pervading  in  human  life.  They 
constitute  a  large  part  of  life.  Nay,  verily,  religion  is  life  and 
all  true  moral  life  is  religious ;  i.  e.,  it  relates  itself  to  personal 
and  divine  obligations. 

It  will  be  our  task  in  the  following  pages  to  explain  some 
of  the  reasons  for  the  widely  different  and  even  extreme  types 
of  religious  experience  in  conversion  and  to  discuss  some  of  the 
essential  conditions  for  the  proper  development  and  expression 
of  the  true  spiritual  life  during  its  regenerative  processes.  Uni- 
formity in  Christian  experience  is  not  to  be  desired  nor  even 
expected.  Extreme  types,  however,  need  explanation  and  they 
may  be  explained  and  accounted  for  on  a  psychological  and  re- 
ligious basis.  What  are  some  of  the  reasons  for  such  diversified 
religious  experience? 

J.     The  Character  of  the  Life  Led  Previous  to  Conversion. 

One  of  the  reasons  for  differences  in  emotional  experiences 
during  conversion  is  the  character  of  the  life  led  previous  to 
conversion  by  the  convert.  Two  men  of  similar  temperament 
and  spiritual  capacity  would  evidently  not  be  subjected  to  the 
same  kind  of  struggle  and  conflict  in  conversion  if  one  had  been 
all  his  life-time  a  moderately  clean  and  pure  man  morally,  while 
the  other  had  been  a  persistent  transgressor  of  practically  all  the 
commandments  of  the  decalogue.  It  is  no  small  matter  to  re- 
construct and  transform  a  human  heart  whose  moral  fibres  have 
been  set  wrong  and  hardened  by  continual  use  in  immoral  acts. 
Conversion  means  the  reconstruction  of  the  whole  moral  man,  and 
hence  the  more  warped  the  moral  nature  has  become  and  the 
more  easily  and  spontaneously  the  moral  organism  acts  in  response 
to  selfish  and  immoral  motives,  the  more  of  an  effort  it  will  be 
to  regenerate  the  moral  organism  and  to  make  its  fibres  respond 
easily  and  naturally  to  lofty  and  unselfish  influences.  The  hard- 
ened criminal  and  the  careless,  easy-going  pleasure  seeker  have  to 
pass  through  two  entirely  different  subjective  experiences  during 
the  process  of  regeneration. 


io8 

That  men  who  have  been  immersed  in  the  filth  of  moral  un- 
cleanness  should  need  a  more  radical  process  of  cleansing  than  the 
man  who  has  only  soiled  his  outer  garment,  as  it  were,  in  moral 
uncleanness  is  evident.  And  surely  the  soul  which  has  tasted  the 
pleasures  of  sin  for  a  season  ought  also  to  be  made  to  taste  its 
bitterness  before  it  is  allowed  to  enjoy  the  peace  and  pleasure 
of  forgiveness.  Jonathan  Edwards  in  his  exhaustive  work  on 
"The  Religious  Affections"  puts  this  phase  of  the  subject  thus: 
"Surely  it  cannot  be  unreasonable  that  before  God  delivers  us 
from  a  state  of  sin  and  liability  to  everlasting  woe,  He  should 
give  us  some  considerable  sense  of  the  evil  from  which  He  de- 
livers us,  in  order  that  we  may  know  and  feel  the  importance 
of  salvation,  and  be  enabled  to  appreciate  the  value  of  what  God 
is  pleased  to  do  for  us.  As  those  who  are  saved  are  successively 
in  two  extremely  different  states — first  in  a  state  of  condemna- 
tion and  then  in  a  state  of  justification  and  blessedness — and,  as 
God,  in  the  salvation  of  men,  deals  with  them  as  rational  and 
intelligent  creatures,  it  appears  agreeable  to  this  wisdom,  that 
those  who  are  saved  should  be  made  sensible  of  their  being  in 
those  two  different  states.  In  the  first  place,  that  they  should  be 
made  sensible  of  their  state  of  condemnation ;  and  afterwards,  of 
their  state  of  deliverance  and  happiness." 

It  is,  therefore,  no  matter  for  surprise  when  we  are  told  that 
some  of  the  great  saints  who  were  also  great  sinners  before  their 
conversion  had  unusual  experiences  of  inward  conflict  before  the 
"old  man"  could  be  brought  to  the  point  of  surrender.  We  do  not 
wonder,  therefore,  that  the  spirit  of  intense  bitterness  and  unre- 
lenting hatred  against  the  early  Christians  on  the  part  of  Saul, 
the  persecutor,  should  have  required  supernatural  manifesta- 
tions of  divine  power  for  its  transformation  with  accompaniments 
of  great  strife  and  moral  conflict.  Augustine  was  a  heathen  by 
association  and  by  practice  and  went  through  the  fiery  furnace 
of  conflict  and  self-torture  before  he  emerged  into  the  full  light 
and  sweetness  of  his  Christian  experience.  Charles  G.  Finney,  the 
noted  evangelist,  was  an  avowed  infidel  and  a  pronounced  op- 
ponent of  Christianity  before  his  conversion.  There  was  required 
on   his   part   a   tremendous   inner   conflict   and   a   bitter  struggle 


109 

with  his  spirit  before  his  pride  was  broken  down  and  the 
abounding  peace  of  God's  forgiveness  rolled  in  upon  him  and 
thrilled  him  with  joy  unspeakable.  Murderers  and  hardened 
criminals  usually  break  down  and  cry  like  children  under  the 
saving  influences  of  the  Gospel.  Other  things  being  equal,  great 
sinners  should  in  the  very  nature  of  the  case  also  become  great 
penitents  and  converts  of  marked  joy  and  exaltation  of  spirit. 

But,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  the  conditions  and  circumstances  of 
people  in  conversion  are  not  the  same.  Two  confirmed  sinners  of 
equal  moral  unworthiness  may  have  widely  different  experi- 
ences in  regeneration.  Deeply  sensitive  natures  feel  most 
poignantly  the  utter  baseness  of  a  sinful  life  and  naturally  ex- 
perience most  keenly  the  great  joy  of  deliverance  and  the  peace 
of  forgiveness.  And  so  it  comes  about  that  frequently  the  depth 
of  conviction  and  the  joy  of  deliverance  during  conversion  in 
the  case  of  hardened  sinners,  is  not  so  pronounced  as  in  the  case 
of  delicate  women  with  sensitive  consciences  in  matters  of  really 
minor  offences.  Dr.  Geo.  C.  Lorimer,  in  his  "Treatise  on  Con- 
version," makes  these  pertinent  remarks  on  the  subject:  "The 
degree  of  this  feeling  (i.  e.,  of  conviction  of  sin)  will  vary.  It 
will  not  be  decided,  however,  as  some  preachers  seem  to  think, 
by  the  actual  guilt  of  the  soul  under  conviction,  but  rather  by 
its  moral  susceptibility.  Some  of  the  purest,  most  virtuous  of 
people  with  whom  I  have  had  to  deal  in  my  ministry  have  evinced 
the  deepest  compunction  of  conscience  and  the  profoundest  solici- 
tude for  their  condition.  Children  and  women  have  manifested 
a  pungent  sorrow  that  strong  men,  whose  lives  have  been  a 
continued  profanation  of  every  holy  thing,  have  failed  to  exhibit. 
I  have  often  found  it  difficult  in  my  ministrations  to  awaken 
in  the  professed  penitential  felon  an  adequate  abhorrence  of  his 
guilt.  All  genuine  converts  will  feel  according  to  their  moral 
sensitiveness  their  iniquity." 

In  the  same  line  of  thought  Prof.  Coe  says  this :  "It  is  sup- 
posed by  many  that  striking  transformations  in  the  affective  or 
emotional  life  are  reserved  for  those  who  have  been  great  sinners. 
I  know  of  more  than  one  person  who  has  been  tempted  to  become 
a    great   sinner   in    order   to   be   able   to    experience    a   brilliant 


no 

conversion.  The  idea  seems  to  be  that  an  abrupt  transition  from 
moral  badness  to  moral  goodness  naturally  carries  great  emo- 
tional disturbances  with  it.  And  doubtless  such  circumstances 
do  tend  to  intensify  whatever  happens.  But  it  does  not  at  all 
appear  that  these  circumstances  are  the  chief  factors  that  deter- 
mine the  degree  of  affective  transformation  at  conversion."  They 
undoubtedly  do  play  an  important  part,  but  as  will  be  shown  later 
the  chief  mental  qualities  and  states  favorable  to  these  striking 
experiences  are  expectation,  abundance  of  feeling,  and  passive 
suggestibility,  with  its  tendency  to  abnormal  nervous  disturbances. 

2.     Differences  of  Temperament  Affect  Religious  Experience  in 
Conversion. 

We  recognize  temperamental  differences  in  other  experiences  of 
life.  Why  should  we  not  in  the  religious  sphere?  People  differ 
very  widely  in  matters  of  temperament  and  in  mental  and  moral 
responsiveness  and  these  differences  are  constitutional.  They 
give  color  and  tone  to  the  entire  emotional  or  affective  life  of 
the  individual.  Hence  they  would  naturally  determine,  to  a  con- 
siderable extent,  the  quality  and  intensity  of  religious  experience. 
And  as  in  other  vital  and  important  interests  of  life  we  explain 
widely  different  modes  of  action  and  feeling,  under  quite  similar 
conditions,  to  inner  constitutional  differences  of  temperament ;  why 
should  we  not  take  more  cognizance  of  the  same  legitimate  reasons 
for  differences  in  the  religious  realm  ? 

Temperament  is  preeminently  determined  by  the  cast  of  the 
nervous  system  and  indirectly  affected  by  differences  in  the  cir- 
culatory, digestive  and  muscular  systems  of  the  body.  Some  men 
have  sanguine  temperaments,  with  a  quick,  lively,  nervous 
response  and  with  a  buoyant,  emotional  disposition.  Others 
again  are  of  a  choleric  temperament,  usually  of  dark  complexion, 
of  a  more  or  less  sluggish  nervous  responsiveness,  but  of  con- 
siderable self-confidence  and  strength  of  will.  Still  others  have 
the  phlegmatic  temperament,  not  easily  moved  or  excited,  with 
the  life  forces  running  slowly  and  leisurely,  and  disinclined  to 
sudden,   abrupt,   or  extreme   actions   of  any   kind.     The   fourth 


Ill 

class  has  the  melancholic  temperament,  with  bright  expressive 
eyes,  usually  of  slender  figure,  and  with  lively  emotional  respon- 
siveness. These  are  given  to  poetry  and  music,  are  rather  dreamy 
and  imaginative  and  care  little  for  the  practical  affairs  of  life. 
True,  these  are  only  types  and  in  actual  life  they  are  usually 
mixed  and  yet  they  help  to  explain  many  of  the  inherent  differ- 
ences of  people,  differences  over  which  they  have  little  control. 

Or  again,  we  may  characterize  fundamental  differences  of  peo- 
ple in  proportion  as  their  emotional,  or  intellectual,  or  their 
volitional  natures  predominate.  The  emotional  type  of  character 
is  controlled  largely  by  the  activity  and  intensity  of  the  feelings, 
which  predominate  and  give  color  and  tone  to  their  entire  sub- 
jective life.  In  the  intellectual  type,  the  thinking  processes  are 
preeminent,  and  subordinate  the  other  activities  of  the  mind  to  their 
sway.  Such  natures  are  not  easily  moved,  somewhat  cold  and 
calculating,  little  given  to  sentiment  or  tears.  The  volitional  type 
is  strong  and  dominant  on  the  side  of  the  will,  more  or  less 
stubborn  and  obstinate  and  not  easily  moved  by  sentiment  or 
emotional  appeals  of  any  kind.  These  psychological  differences 
affect  mightily  people's  feelings  and  actions  in  all  kinds  of  ex- 
periences in  life.  They  are  constitutional  differences,  inherited 
from  their  ancestors  and  little  subject  to  change  or  modification 
by  training  or  education.  In  fact,  they  predetermine  the  man- 
ner to  a  very  great  extent  in  which  people  react  during  all  the 
vital  processes  of  training  and  education.  They  are  consequently 
of  the  utmost  importance  in  helping  to  explain  the  large  variety 
of  religious  experiences  on  a  rational  basis. 

In  the  ordinary  concerns  of  life,  people  react  on  the  side  of 
their  feelings  in  widely  different  ways,  under  similar  circum- 
stances and  conditions.  And  yet  this  occasions  no  comment.  We 
say  people  are  made  differently  and  have  different  natures.  One 
young  man  settles  the  great  question  of  his  life-work  without 
any  evident  strain  or  conflict,  while  another  young  man  in  much 
the  same  situation  settles  the  same  question  only  after  much  inner 
struggle  and  painful  deliberation.  One  young  man  breaks  a  bad 
habit  by  a  simple,  resolute  act  of  the  will,  unaccompanied  by 
any   emotional   disturbance.     Another   young   man — a   personal 


112 

acquaintance — makes  so  simple  a  thing  as  the  matter  of  smoking  the 
subject  of  his  prayers  and  after  much  wrestling  with  himself  and 
much  self-examination  and  struggle  he  was  led  to  quit  the  "filthy 
and  ungodly  habit,"  with  inner  transports  of  joy  and  satisfaction. 
The  same  radical  differences  of  temperament  appear  in  matters 
of  love,  courtship  and  marriage.  For  some,  the  course  of  love 
runs  smoothly  and  uneventfully,  without  any  moments  of  exces- 
sive joy  or  of  crushing  sorrow  and  disappointment.  For  others, 
there  are  great  emotional  disturbances,  frequently  affecting  seri- 
ously and  profoundly  the  entire  conscious  states  of  the  individual 
and  disturbing  the  normal  activities  and  functions  of  his  life. 
One's  affection  and  regard  may  be  just  as  deep  and  strong  as  that 
of  the  other.  In  fact,  the  most  passionate  demonstrations  of 
undying  affection  are  not  infrequently  of  the  most  unstable  and 
vacillating  character.  One  man  loses  a  fortune  and  makes 
the  best  of  it.  Another  one  is  broken  in  body  and  crushed 
in  spirit  by  a  similar  misfortune.  Perhaps  the  greatest  tempera- 
mental differences  appear  in  times  of  sorrow  and  bereave- 
ment. At  the  open  grave  of  loved  ones,  some  are  burdened  and 
heavy  in  spirit  but  fail  to  shed  a  tear  or  display  any  striking  out- 
ward emotion;  others  find  relief  in  uncontrollable  weeping  and  in 
floods  of  tears.  Both  may  have  the  same  blessed  assurance  of 
their  loved  ones'  conquering  faith  in  the  hour  of  death  and  of 
a  glorious  resurrection,  and  both  may  be  equally  firm  believers 
in  the  reality  of  the  Christian  religion  and  in  the  hope  of  a  blessed 
reunion  in  the  life  beyond.  The  striking  differences  in  experience 
are  largely  due  to  fundamental  differences  of  temperament. 

Various  writers  on  religious  experience  have  called  attention 
to  the  importance  of  temperamental  differences  in  explaining  types 
and  varieties  of  religious  experience.  But  Prof.  Geo.  A.  Coe,  of 
the  Northwestern  University,  Evanston,  111.,  was  the  first  modern 
writer  on  religious  subjects  to  do  full  justice  to  this  phase  of 
the  subject.  He  made  a  careful  investigation  of  seventy-seven 
cases  of  the  religious  experience  of  people  in  conversion,  many 
being  college  students  of  Methodist  extraction,  with  special  ref- 
erence to  the  matter  of  striking,  abrupt  and  abnormal  experiences 
during     conversion.       Ol     the     seventy-seven     cases     carefully 


113 

considered  and  their  temperaments  and  emotional  experiences 
duly  analyzed,  it  appears  that  of  seventeen  of  those  who  expected  an 
abrupt  emotional  experience  in  conversion  and  also  got  it,  fifteen 
were  of  the  emotional  or  sanguine  type  of  temperament,  who  were 
also  subject  to  other  emotional  disturbances,  such  as  religious 
dreams,  visions,  communications  with  deceased  friends,  uncon- 
trollable laughter  and  weeping,  hallucinations,  etc.  Of  twelve 
cases  examined  who  expected  a  striking  emotional  experience  dur- 
ing conversion  but  did  not  find  it,  nine  were  decidedly  of  the 
intellectual  or  choleric-phlegmatic  type  of  temperament,  and  who 
had  no  unusual  emotional  disturbances  in  other  kinds  of  experi- 
ences either.  In  other  words,  practically  the  entire  number  of 
Prof.  Coe's  subjects,  who  expected  striking  religious  experiences 
during  conversion  and  got  them,  belong  to  the  emotional  type 
of  temperament,  which  is  easily  excited,  responds  quickly  and 
freely  to  influences  and  appeals,  and  is  subject  to  extreme  emo- 
tional disturbances  under  all  the  various  circumstances  of  life 
and  of  character.  While  on  the  other  hand  the  overwhelming 
majority  of  cases  which  expected  striking  religious  experience 
in  conversion  and  did  not  find  it,  belong  to  the  intellectual  type 
of  temperament,  in  which  the  thinking  powers  predominate  and 
in  which  the  will  is  not  easily  moved  by  the  emotions. 

Prof.  Coe  also  points  out  the  additional  fact  that  practically  all 
of  the  cases,  examined  by  him  with  reference  to  the  matter  of 
experiencing  hallucinations,  dreams,  visions  and  other  supra- 
normal  manifestations,  were  of  the  sanguine  or  emotional  tem- 
perament. He  also  found  that  of  the  seventeen  cases  who  expected 
and  also  found  a  striking  religious  experience  in  conversion, 
thirteen  of  them  were  good  hypnotic  subjects,  while  of  the  twelve 
respondents  who  sought  an  abrupt,  emotional  experience  in  con- 
version but  did  not  find  it,  only  one  was  a  good  hypnotic  subject, 
i.  e.,  one  whose  emotional  nature  is  highly  developed  and  who  pos- 
sesses the  power  of  prompt  concentration  and  voluntary  atten- 
tion. It  is  a  striking  and  impressive  fact  that  good  hypnotic  sub- 
jects and  representatives  of  the  striking  emotional  experience  all 
belong  to  one  type  of  temperament — the  emotional  or  sanguine 
— melancholic  kind,  whereas  representatives  of  the  intellectual 


114 

and  volitional  types  of  temperament — i.  e.,  of  the  phlegmatic  or 
choleric  kind — will  simply  not  respond  either  to  hypnotic  sug- 
gestions or  to  intense  religious  influences  in  any  marked  or  strik- 
ing manner.  The  conclusion  is  irresistible.  The  manifestations 
of  striking,  abrupt  emotional  experiences  in  religion  with  its 
accompanying  phenomena  of  dreams,  visions,  voices,  hallucina- 
tions, motor  and  other  automatisms  and  even  catalepsy,  are  to 
be  explained  on  the  basis  of  temperament  and  religious  excite- 
ment. The  sanguine-melancholic  temperament,  with  its  emotional 
responsiveness,  is  the  fruitful  soil  and  the  only  soil  for  these 
striking  experiences. 

What  then?  Shall  we  say  these  abrupt  emotional  experiences 
in  conversion  have  no  moral  value?  Shall  we,  therefore,  con- 
clude that  they  are  practically  nothing  but  an  automatic  per- 
formance ?  It  may  be  that  but  not  necessarily.  Intense  abnormal 
emotional  experiences  may  be  highly  moral  and  spiritual,  and 
they  be  absolutely  immoral.  In  themselves  they  have  no  moral 
value.  It  simply  means  that  profound  religious  agitation  may 
clothe  itself  "in  certain  emotional  habiliments"  provided  the  proper 
and  necessary  nervous  organism  is  present,  the  required  emotional 
temperament.  As  Prof.  Coe  puts  it :  "Would  you  understand 
the  emotional  aspects  of  religious  experiences.  Do  not  ascribe 
them  to  the  inscrutable  ways  of  God,  but  to  ascertainable  differ- 
ences in  men's  mental  constitutions ;  do  not  theorize  about  divine 
grace,  but  study  the  workings  of  the  human  mind." 

Given  a  decided  emotional  temperament  and  the  necessary  con- 
ditions for  its  excitement  and  you  will  have  experiences  of  a 
striking  and  unusual  character.  Practically  all  the  brilliant  ex- 
periences of  religious  history  come  under  this  type  of  character. 
These  are  the  responsive  natures  which  respond  powerfully  to 
stirring  influences  and  to  religious  appeal.  They  are  the  Aeolian 
harps  upon  which  the  wind  of  the  spirit  plays  its  loudest  and 
most  stirring  music.  On  the  other  hand,  the  strongly  intellectual 
and  volitional  types  of  character  not  only  do  not  respond  so  power- 
fully to  religious  influences,  but  they  are  so  constituted  that  they 
simply  cannot  so  respond.  They  do  not  possess  the  necessar}^ 
religious  organism.     It  is  simply  physically  and  therefore  morally 


115 

impossible  for  certain  natures  to  be  profoundly  and  excessively 
moved  on  the  side  of  their  emotional  natures  by  influences  or 
appeals  of  any  kind,  because  of  temperament  and  disposition. 
It  is  simply  impossible,  nervously  and  religiously,  for  some  peo- 
ple to  experience  religion  as  Jonathan  Edwards  did,  or  as  Charles 
G.  Finney  did,  or  even  as  many  humble  professors  of  a  certain 
kind  of  temperament  have  done  and  are  doing  continually.  Each 
one  must  enjoy  his  religion,  as  his  other  experiences  of  life, 
according  to  the  measure  of  his  inner  quality  of  temperament 
and  the  character  of  the  religious  influences  at  work. 

3.   The  Time  of  Adolescence  is  Significant  for  Religious  Changes, 

It  is  a  most  impressive  fact  that  practically  all  the  cases  of 
deep  religious  changes  occur  in  the  period  of  life,  from  about 
twelve  to  twenty,  known  as  adolescence.  This  is  the  time  of 
most  rapid  growth,  of  most  numerous  physical  and  mental  changes 
and  of  the  most  profound  moral  and  spiritual  transformations. 
It  is  in  a  peculiar  sense  the  period  of  "reconstruction,"  not  only 
for  the  moral  life,  but  also  for  the  physical  and  the  social  and 
the  intellectual  life  as  well. 

Prof.  Starbuck  in  his  "Psychology  of  Religion"  has  called  at- 
tention to  the  fact  that  "there  is  a  normal  period  somewhere 
between  the  innocence  of  childhood  and  the  fixed  habits  of  ma- 
turity while  the  person  is  yet  impressionable  and  has  already 
capacity  for  spiritual  insight,  when  conversions  most  frequently 
occur."  There  are  isolated  cases  of  conversion  as  young  as  six 
or  seven  years  of  age  and  as  old  as  fifty  and  sixty,  but  these  are 
the  exceptions,  not  the  rule.  The  overwhelming  proportion  of  con- 
versions and  spiritual  awakenings  in  life  occur  between  the  ages 
of  twelve  and  twenty-one,  very  few  being  converted  under  eight 
and  very-,  very  few  above  thirty.  Of  seven  hundred  and  seventy- 
six  graduates  of  Drew  Theological  Seminary  the  largest  number 
were  converted  at  the  age  of  sixteen.  Of  five  hundred  and  twenty- 
six  officers  of  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  in  the  United  States  and  Canada, 
the  average  age  of  conversion  was  16.5.  Of  two  hundred  and 
seventy-six  members  of  the  Rock  River  Methodist  Conference  as 


ii6 

reported  by  Prof.  Coe,  the  average  age  of  conversion  was  16.4. 
Or,  taking  a  total  of  one  thousand  seven  hundred  and  eighty-four 
cases  as  reported  and  tabulated  in  Coe's  "Spiritual  Life,"  the 
average  age  of  conversion  is  16.4  years.  The  distribution  of  the 
two  hundred  and  seventy-six  members  of  the  Rock  River  Con- 
ference as  to  age  of  conversion  is  as  follows :  Thirteen  are  re- 
ported as  having  been  converted  below  nine  and  thirty-five  below 
twelve  years  of  age ;  twenty-three  are  reported  as  having  been  con- 
verted at  twelve,  fifteen  at  thirteen,  eighteen  at  fourteen,  twenty 
at  fifteen,  thirty-four  at  sixteen,  twenty-five  at  seventeen,  eighteen 
at  eighteen,  twenty-five  at  nineteen,  fifteen  at  twenty,  and  thirteen 
at  twenty-one  years  of  age,  and  altogether  only  eleven  above 
twenty-five  and  none  above  thirty-six  years  of  age.  Other  tables 
of  statistics  give  about  the  same  results.  The  statistics  for  men 
who  have  had  more  or  less  decisive  religious  awakenings  of  a  non- 
revival  type  coincide  with  those  given  above.  Of  ninety-nine 
cases  of  spiritual  awakenings  of  the  non-revival  type  reported  by 
Prof.  Coe  only  ten  per  cent,  occurred  under  twelve  years  of  age 
and  only  four  per  cent,  above  twenty-five  years  of  age  and 
seventy-six  per  cent,  of  this  number  fall  between  the  ages  of 
twelve  and  twenty. 

These  figures  are  supremely  impressive.  It  is  clearly  evident 
that  the  largest  number  of  religious  awakenings  and  actual  con- 
versions fall  within  the  period  of  life  known  as  puberty  or  adoles- 
cence. Prof.  Starbuck  remarks  that  "during  the  period  of  most 
rapid  bodily  growth  is  the  time  when  conversion  is  most  likely 
to  occur,"  and  further  that  "the  spiritual  and  the  physical  aspects 
of  development  in  individual  instances  tend  to  supplement  each 
other."  In  other  words,  the  period  of  adolescence  seems  to  be 
the  most  favorable  period  for  moral  and  religious  changes.  And 
there  are  some  self-evident  reasons  for  this.  It  is  the  period  of 
life  when  the  child  emerges  from  childhood  into  manhood,  when 
great  organic  changes  take  place  in  his  body,  when  rapid  vital 
changes  take  place  in  his  nervous  organism  and  when  spontaneous 
awakenings  of  the  religious  life  and  explosive  conversions  are  most 
likely  to  occur  because  the  conditions  are  most  favorable  and 
because  the  soil  is  well  prepared.     In  fact,  practically  all  of  the 


117 

striking  religious  phenomena  of  abrupt  conversions  or  of  power- 
ful spontaneous  religious  awakenings  fall  within  this  period  of 
the  body's  most  rapid  growth  and  the  spirit's  most  receptive 
and  plastic  condition,  during  which  the  various  elements  of  the 
personal  life  are  apt  to  crystalize  into  more  or  less  permanent 
modes  of  thought  and  feeling  and  fixed  habits  of  life  and  conduct. 
It  is  a  fateful  period  of  life,  frought  with  the  most  momentous 
consequences  and  well  might  it  have  an  important  bearing 
on  the  question  of  religious  experience.  It  is  eminently  the  re- 
construction period  of  life  during  which  the  immature,  childish, 
undeveloped  self,  through  a  process  of  increased  physical,  mental, 
and  spiritual  activity  and  ferment,  more  or  less  marked,  emerges 
into  the  larger  and  fuller  and  completer  life  of  manhood  and  thus 
enters,  as  it  were,  into  the  life  of  the  new  birth,  not  only  socially, 
mentally,  and  physically,  but  also  morally  and  religiously.  It  is 
the  time  of  life  particularly  favorable,  therefore,  for  deep  religious 
impressions.  It  is  both  the  seed  and  the  harvest  time  of  the  young 
soul.  It  is  the  time  when  mental  and  intellectual  life  undergoes 
the  greatest  changes.  It  is  the  period  of  life  when  "new  kinds  of 
sensation  and  of  emotion,  new  modes  of  thought,  new  attitudes 
of  will,  new  meanings  of  life,  new  problems  of  duty,  new  kinds 
of  temptation,  new  mysteries  in  religion"  make  their  presence 
felt  in  the  young,  growing  life.  It  is  the  "storm  and  stress" 
period  of  life  for  the  emotional  type  of  temperament.  For  the 
intellectual  type  it  is  the  period  of  "intellectual  and  social  new 
birth,"  as  Prof.  Stanley  Hall  calls  it  in  his  massive  volumes  on 
"Adolescence."  It  is  the  period,  with  many  young  people,  of 
doubt  and  uncertainty,  of  self-examination  and  questionings  as 
to  the  why  and  wherefore  of  their  existence,  of  remorseless 
criticism  of  self  and  others,  frequently  of  morbid  self-conscious- 
ness, of  high  ideals  and  of  unusual  restlessness  and  dissatis- 
faction. 

It  is  important  to  observe,  however,  that  for  the  Giristian 
child,  trained  from  infancy  to  love  the  Lord  and  to  do  right, 
this  so-called  "storm  and  stress"  period  of  the  adolescent  life  is 
not  properly  called  conversion.  For  the  Christian  child,  the  be- 
ginning of  its  spiritual   life  had  its  origin  in  the  earlier  years 


ii8 

of  its  Christian  training  and  it  has  been  continuous.  But  to 
many  children  thus  trained  in  a  simple,  childlike  life  of  trust 
and  faith  in  God,  the  adolescent  period  brings  more  fulness  of 
knowledge  and  more  elements  of  conscious  choice,  and  these  the 
growing  soul  now  fully  and  freely  adopts  for  itself,  by  a  conscious 
intelligent  appropriation  of  the  will.  For  many  young  people,  too, 
in  the  adolescent  period,  there  come  moments  of  religious  crisis 
more  or  less  striking,  which,  though  by  some  called  conversion, 
are  really  only  periods  of  increased  spiritual  activity  and  of  a  deeper 
insight  into  the  meaning  of  spiritual  things.  The  age  of  youth 
is  specially  well  fitted  for  such  awakenings  or  re-awakenings  of 
the  religious  nature,  though  with  many  people  such  experiences 
occur  more  or  less  frequently  in  later  life.  Prof.  Coe  puts  it 
thus :  "The  quickened  conscience,  with  its  thirst  for  absolute 
righteousness ;  the  quickened  intellect,  with  its  thirst  for  absolute 
truth ;  the  quickened  aesthetic  sense,  with  its  intuitions  of  a  beauty 
that  eye  hath  not  seen  and  the  ear  hath  not  heard ;  the  quickened 
social  sense,  with  its  longing  for  perfect  and  eternal  companion- 
ship— in  short,  the  new  meaningfulness  and  mystery  of  life — 
all  this  tends  to  bring  in  a  new  and  distinct  epoch  in  religious 
experience.  If  one  has  not  been  religious  in  childhood,  now  is 
the  supremely  favorable  time  for  conversion ;  and  if  one  has 
been  religious,  there  is  still  need,  in  most  cases,  for  a  personal 
decision  and  personal  acceptance  that  shall  supersede  the  more 
external  habits  of  childhood.  Without  giving  to  our  terms  any 
theological  significance,  we  may  say  that  conversion,  or  some 
equivalent  personalising  of  religion,  is  a  normal  part  of  adolescent 
growth." 

It  thus  becomes  increasingly  evident  that  a  consideration  of 
the  great  number  and  variety  of  changes  that  take  place  in  the 
adolescent  life,  say  from  twelve  to  twenty,  throws  much 
light  on  the  differences  in  quality  and  intensity  of  religious  ex- 
periences. In  fact,  this  is  par  excellence  the  period  not  only  of 
conversion,  but  also  of  all  kinds  of  religious  activity  in  the  re- 
awakening, deepening  and  quickening  of  the  spiritual  life.  It 
is  well  for  parents  and  religious  teachers  to  understand  the  fate- 
fulness  of  this  period   of  life,   as  the  most  opportune  time   for 


119 

spiritual  sowing  and  spiritual  reaping  as  well.  It  is  the  normal 
time  of  the  catechetical  class,  of  the  Young  People's  Society  of 
Christian  Endeavor  with  its  youthful  enthusiasm,  of  joining  the 
church,  of  engaging  in  all  kinds  of  religious  activities.  It  is 
the  most  favorable  time  of  great  moral  decisions,  not  only  with 
reference  to  one's  relation  to  God  in  conversion,  but  also  with 
reference  to  one's  relation  to  his  fellow-men  in  a  life-calling. 

It  is  supremely  important  to  remember  that  the  period  of 
life  under  consideration  is  not  only  the  most  favorable  time  for 
sowing,  but  also  for  reaping,  in  the  realm  of  the  spiritual  harvest 
field.  It  is  the  time  when  the  spirit  calls  in  strongest  and  loudest 
accent :  "To-day,  if  you  hear  his  voice,  harden  not  your  hearts." 
It  is  the  time  when  every  normal  impulse  of  the  soul  and  every 
youthful  enthusiasm  of  the  awakened  and  responsive  moral  nature 
summons  the  soul  to  high  and  unselfish  endeavor.  It  is  pathetic 
to  know  that  those  who  pass  through  the  adolescent  period  of  life, 
unmoved  by  the  influences  of  the  spirit  and  unregenerated  by  the 
transforming  power  of  the  divine  life,  are  in  imminent  danger  of 
being  abandoned  to  the  spirit  of  the  world  for  life  and  of  remain- 
ing in  a  condition  of  "spiritual  death"  in  the  midst  of  physical 
and  intellectual  life.  What  an  impressive  fact  it  is,  that  scarcely 
one  soul  in  a  thousand  is  regenerated  after  thirty  years  of  age ! 
How  important  for  the  young  to  realize  that  the  period  of  youth 
is  the  natural  and  appropriate  time,  ordained  by  God  and  written 
into  their  very  constitutions,  to  open  their  hearts  to  God  and 
to  enter  into  their  spiritual  inheritance.  It  is  the  time  of  invita- 
tion, the  time  of  the  calling  of  the  spirit,  when  not  only  the 
voice  from  above  through  the  spirit  of  God,  but  also  the  voice 
from  within,  through  the  awakened  conscience,  summons  the  young 
life  to  high  and  unselfish  service.  How  dangerous  it  is  to  let  this 
plastic,  receptive  period  of  youth  go  by,  unregenerated  and  uncon- 
verted, when  every  passing  hour  only  confirms  the  ruling  forces  of 
evil  and  strengthens  the  bonds  of  slavery  which  evil  habit  has 
forged,  and  makes  the  regenerative  process  more  difficult  and  more 
unlikely,  with  the  result  that  the  soul  may  be  compelled  to  cry  out  in 
anguish  and  sorrow :  "The  harvest  is  past,  the  summer  is  ended 
and  we  are  not  saved." 


120 


4.     The  Religfious  Environment  Affects  the  Character  of  Experi- 
ence in  Conversion. 

The  character  of  the  religious  environment  has  also  much  to  do 
in  determining  the  type  of  religious  experience  in  conversion. 
The  nature  of  the  truths  emphasized  to  be  believed  and  the 
type  of  religious  experience  held  up  before  the  penitent  sinner 
for  realization  have  a  profound  influence  upon  the  kind  of  reli- 
gious experience  thus  fostered.  With  proper  preaching  of  the 
doctrine  of  total  depravity  in  its  extreme  form  and  of  an 
angry  God  to  be  appeased  and  of  a  literal  hell  fire  yawning 
for  the  unrepentant  sinner,  a  somewhat  somber  and  austere  type 
of  experience  may  be  developed,  especially  if  the  preaching  is  of 
the  kind  to  stir  up  the  feelings  to  lively  activity.  Such  was  the 
case  with  the  Puritans,  whose  earnest  struggle  to  escape  from  the 
incarnate  powers  and  forces  of  evil  produced  a  somber  and  some- 
what austere  type  of  Christian  experience.  With  the  preaching  of 
God's  infinite  love  and  mercy  as  the  key-note  to  the  Gospel,  and 
with  emphasis  laid  upon  the  necessity  of  a  closer  union  with  Him 
in  the  spirit,  a  less  dramatic  but  more  wholesome  and  healthy 
type  of  religious  experience  is  fostered.  This  is  strikingly  illus- 
trated by  the  preaching  of  Jonathan  Edwards  and  that  of  Dwight 
L.  Moody  and  the  types  of  experience  obtained  through  their 
preaching.  Jonathan  Edwards  preached  the  terror  of  an  angry 
God  and  of  the  final  judgment  with  a  most  vivid  reality,  and  his 
converts  reacted  profoundly  and  violently.  Dwight  L.  Moody  sang 
the  praises  of  a  loving  heavenly  Father  with  infinite  variety  and 
touching  pathos,  and  most  of  his  converts  came  into  the  kingdom 
with  joy  and  gladness,  but  with  no  accompaniment  of  extreme 
emotional   excesses. 

Again,  if  the  abrupt,  emotional  kind  of  experience  in  conver- 
sion is  held  up  before  the  seekers  after  salvation  and  duly  and 
properly  emphasized,  and  if  all  the  services  of  the  church  are 
conducted  with  a  view  of  obtaining  this  type  of  experience  in  the 
"mourners"  at  the  "anxious  bench,"  then  we  may  expect  to  see 
the  prescribed  type  of  conversion  realized  in  the  experiences  of 


121 

the  young  convert  so  far  as  their  temperaments  are  able  to  respond 
to  the  influences  at  work.  Here  is  the  key  to  the  whole  situation. 
In  the  revival  type  of  denominations,  with  their  protracted  meet- 
ings, their  intense  religious  enthusiasm,  with  the  "anxious  bench" 
and  a  period  of  "mourning"  and  struggle  required  for  the  seeker 
after  God,  with  all  the  circumstances  and  surroundings  of  great 
emotional  tension  present,  the  most  calm  and  unemotional  natures 
are  bound  to  be  agitated  to  the  full  limit  of  their  capacity,  while 
the  strongly  emotional  natures  will  be  aroused  to  the  highest  pitch 
of  tumultuous  religious  enthusiasm,  resulting  frequently  in  all 
sorts  of  strange  and  abnormal  kinds  of  subjective  phenomena. 
The  same  people,  in  the  non-revival  churches,  amidst  less  exciting 
and  less  intense  religious  surroundings,  would  make  their  peace 
with  God  in  self-surrender  and  enter  into  closer  union  with  Him 
without  any  striking,  abrupt  emotional  experience  whatsoever. 
The  kind  of  preaching  dwelt  upon  and  the  type  of  conversion 
demanded,  together  with  the  character  of  the  religious  influences 
at  work,  determine  very  largely  the  nature  of  the  experience  ob- 
tained in  conversion.  The  extreme  type  is  fostered  under  the  most 
favorable  conditions  that  exist  in  the  typical  old  fashioned 
revival  services,  with  its  surcharge  of  pent-up  emotionalism. 
It  is  in  the  revival  type  of  denominations  chiefly  and  almost 
altogether  that  the  extreme  types  of  emotional  conversion 
occur. 

The  striking,  extraordinary  experiences  of  the  extreme  type  of 
emotional  conversion  have  occasionally  disturbed  the  peace  of  mind 
and  even  the  serenity  of  spirit  of  the  "uninitiated"  for  fear  that, 
after  all,  there  might  be  something  superior  and  really  essential 
in  these  seemingly  supernatural  manifestations.  The  unusual 
character  of  the  phenomena  has  attracted  attention  and  not  infre- 
quently defied  rational  explanation  unless  on  the  assumption  that 
they  were  really  supernatural  manifestations  of  divine  power. 
The  feeling  of  absolute  certainty  as  to  one's  spiritual  state  and  the 
intoxicating  joy  of  the  young  convert,  are  these  not  the  witness 
of  the  spirit  and  must  there  not  be  such  a  witness  to  make  the 
process  of  conversion  valid?  And  the  "power,"  so-called,  with 
its  hallucinations  and  automatisms,  its  exultant  hallelujahs  and  its 


122 

vigorous,  uncontrollable  movements  of  the  body  in  leaping  and 
jumping,  or  in  catalepsy,  are  these  not  the  supernatural  evidences 
of  the  Holy  Spirit's  presence,  in  great  power?  Such  are  the  usual 
explanations  of  those  who  are  believers  in  this  type  of  conversion. 
And  there  are  not  a  few  pious  people  who  wonder  at  times 
whether,  after  all,  these  exalted,  extraordinary  states  of  religious 
emotion  are  not  superior  and  therefore  to  be  coveted.  And  many 
a  conscientious,  sensitive  soul  has  been  persuaded  to  seek  the 
supposedly  blessed  experiences  of  the  "anxious  bench"  under  the 
mistaken  notion  that  such  super-normal  states  of  religious  feeling 
were  really  necessary  for  genuine  conversion  and  indicated  a 
higher  state  of  religious  attainment.  And  frequently  great  pres- 
sure is  brought  to  bear  upon  sensitive  and  nervous  natures,  with 
the  confident  assertion  that  they  should  be  "converted"  and  "ex- 
perience religion"  in  accordance  with  the  methods  and  experiences 
of  the  "anxious  bench"  or  else  they  would  be  lost  forever.  The 
test  of  the  "power"  and  the  actual  "witness  of  the  spirit"  with 
demonstrations  of  power  are  made  the  conditions  of  salva- 
tion and  the  only  conditions.  And  the  undoubted  honesty  and 
sincerity  of  many  who  have  had  such  striking  experiences  of 
the  "power"  and  their  confident  assertion  that  such  states  are 
blessed  states  of  experience,  especially  to  be  coveted,  and 
essential  to  true  salvation,  has  had  its  effect  on  many  earnest 
souls  who  had  no  other  explanation  for  these  remarkable 
phenomena  than  that  they  were  the  supernatural  evidence  of 
divine  power. 

It  is  however  possible  to  offer  reasonable  explanation  for  all 
these  things.  We  know  that  any  emotional  nature,  at  certain 
times  in  life,  in  particular,  and  especially  under  the  pressure  of 
great  religious  excitement,  may  be  moved  to  states  of  frenzy. 
The  so-called  "power"  is  no  solitary  phenomena  found  only  among 
certain  religious  denominations  and  to  be  regarded  as  a  special 
evidence  of  the  presence  of  God's  spirit  in  mighty  power.  It  is 
easy  to  prove,  without  being  guilty  of  irreverence  or  sacrilege, 
that  "the  striking  psychical  manifestations  which  reach  their  climax 
among  us  in  emotional  revivals,  camp-meetings,  and  negro  services 
have  a  direct  relation  to  certain  states  of  an  essentially  hypnotic 


123 

and  hallucinatory  kind."  As  Prof.  Coe,  who  is  himself  a  profes- 
sor in  a  university  of  the  strictly  revival  type  of  denomination, 
so  aptly  puts  it :  "The  explanation  of  the  'power'  and  similar  out- 
breaks is  simple.  Under  the  pressure  of  religious  excitement  there 
occurs  a  sporadic  case  of  hallucination,  or  of  motor  automatism, 
or  of  auto-hypnotism,  taking  the  form  of  trance,  visions,  voices, 
or  catalepsy.  Trances  like  that  of  the  Buddha  are  brought  about 
in  substantially  the  same  way,  namely,  by  abstracting  the  mind 
from  its  ordinary  multiplicity  of  interests  and  narrowing  the 
attention  until  self-conscious  control  lapses  and  one  seems  to 
be  absorbed  in  the  infinite.  All  that  is  necessary  is  prolonged 
fixation  of  attention  upon  any  simple  object.  It  is  the  process 
actually  cultivated  to-day  by  theosophists  of  the  type  of  Mrs. 
Besant." 

All  these  striking  experiences  referred  to  are  fostered  and 
brought  about  on  the  human  side  by  forces  which  we  may  under- 
stand. Barring  the  few  solitary  cases  of  those  who  have  violent 
eruptions  of  their  religious  feelings  of  a  seemingly  spontaneous 
character  the  explanation  lies  on  the  surface.  They  have  been 
produced  by  efifort,  under  conditions  and  in  accordance  with  laws 
now  well  known  to  modern  psychology.  There  is  first  of  all  an 
expectation  of  something  to  be  experienced ;  then  there  is  the 
efifort  to  arrive  at  the  desired  state  of  feeling,  the  continuous 
concentration  of  the  mind  upon  the  matter  in  hand,  the  going  for- 
ward to  the  anxious  bench,  the  wrestling  and  praying  and  pleading, 
the  lively  singing  of  stirring  hymns,  the  clapping  of  hands  and  the 
shouting  of  hallelujahs  by  anxious  friends,  the  suggestions  by 
pastor  and  friends  of  words  to  repeat  or  a  certain  feeling  to 
expect,  the  long,  exhausting  nervous  strain.  All  these  conditions 
finally  result  in  a  more  or  less  sudden  explosion  of  the  emotional 
nature  accompanied  frequently  by  sights,  visions,  hallucinations, 
trance  or  catalepsy,  and  then  a  reaction,  a  complete  collapse  of 
the  over-wrought  nervous  system.  There  is  nothing  mysterious 
or  supernatural  about  such  abnormal  phenomena.  Nor  are  they 
peculiar  to  the  revival-type  of  the  protestant  denominations.  "The 
religious  history  of  humanity,  quite  apart  from  Christianity,  is 
full  of  strange  and  abnormal  experiences  which  are  supposed  to 


124 

be  peculiarly  religious.  Mohammedanism  and  Hinduism  abound 
in  phenomena  of  this  sort.  They  are  even  possible  on  the  purely 
physiological  plane  through  the  influence  of  alcohol  and  anaesthetics 
and  narcotics." 

As  to  the  ethical  value  of  such  striking  religious  phenomena, 
there  is  little  agreement.  The  adherents  of  the  revival-type  of 
denominations  have  been  accustomed  to  lay  great  stress  upon  them. 
And  yet  even  in  the  house  of  its  friends  this  type  of  religious 
experience  is  greatly  discredited  and  no  special  spiritual  value 
attributed  to  it.  Such  noted  writers  in  Methodist  institutions  as 
Prof.  Bowne  of  the  Boston  University  and  Prof.  Coe  of  the 
Northwestern  University,  explain  these  striking,  seemingly  super- 
natural phenomena  on  the  basis  of  psychological  vagaries.  They 
are  simply  the  excrescences  of  religious  excitement.  They  are 
"the  striking  psychic  manifestations  which  reach  their  climax 
among  us  in  emotional  revivals,  camp-meetings  and  negro  services 
and  have  a  direct  relation  to  certain  states  of  an  essentially  hyp- 
notic and  hallucinatory  kind."  If  you  seek  to  produce  overpower- 
ing religious  emotions,  the  methods  and  conditions  are  at  hand. 
But  it  would  be  foolish  to  regard  these  striking  and  super-normal 
phenomena  as  special  evidences  of  God's  presence  in  power.  And 
it  would  be  equally  foolish  to  deny  any  ethical  value  to  them, 
if  fostered  and  developed  under  ethical  conditions.  As  Prof. 
James  says  in  his  "Varieties  of  Religious  Experience,"  relative  to 
the  matter  of  striking  religious  phenomena:  "They  undoubtedly 
have  no  essential  spiritual  significance,  and  although  their  presence 
makes  his  conversion  more  memorable  to  the  convert,  it  has  never 
been  proved  that  converts  who  show  them  are  more  persevering 
or  fertile  in  good  fruits  than  those  whose  change  of  heart  has  had 
less  violent  accompaniments.  On  the  whole,  unconsciousness,  con- 
vulsions, visions,  involuntary  vocal  utterances,  and  suffocation, 
must  be  simply  ascribed  to  the  subjects  having  a  large  subliminal 
region,  involving  nervous  instability." 

Finally,  in  the  matter  of  variety  in  religious  experience,  it 
may  be  said  with  assurance,  that  the  religious  environment  is 
really  the  greatest  factor  in  determining  religious  experience  in 
conversion.     The  life  of  the  repentant  sinner  before  conversion 


125 

has  some  degree  of  influence  on  the  type  of  his  reHgious  ex- 
perience during  conversion.  The  differences  in  temperament 
explain  the  possibiHty  of  wide  differences  of  emotional  experience 
in  conversion.  The  period  of  life  determines  the  most  natural 
and  most  favorable  time  for  all  kinds  of  religious  experiences. 
But  the  matter  of  religious  teaching  and  religious  environment, 
during  the  process  of  conversion,  really  detennines  most  emphati- 
cally what  the  character  of  the  religious  experience  shall  be  in  con- 
version. Young  people  among  the  revival  churches  are  most  likely 
to  experience  the  abrupt,  violent  kinds  of  experience;  whereas 
the  young  people  among  the  non-revival  churches,  with  few  ex- 
ceptions, will  not  know  much  of  stress  or  conflict  during  their 
period  of  religious  transformation.  Knowing  the  type  of  tem- 
perament and  disposition,  and  knowing  the  circumstances  of  the 
penitent's  religious  surroundings  we  can  predict  with  considerable 
certainty  what  his  experiences  will  be  in  conversion.  The  Holy 
Spirit  works  continuously  and  untiringly  upon  the  minds  and  hearts 
of  all  unrepentant  souls.  Whenever  the  soul  responds  and  turns 
to  God  in  anticipation  and  earnestly  desires  a  closer  union  with  the 
Father,  the  answer  will  come  and  the  indwelling  spirit  will  make 
His  presence  felt  with  varying  degrees  of  assurance  and  joy,  de- 
pending upon  the  quality  of  the  seeker's  inner  constitution  and 
upon  the  external  circumstances  of  his  conversion.  But  the  vital 
thing  is  not  the  varying  degrees  of  feeling,  accompanying  the 
process,  but  the  indwelling  of  the  Holy  Spirit  with  cleansing 
and  transforming  power. 

This  type  of  extreme,  abnormal  experience  has  been  unduly 
emphasized  in  some  denominations  and  has  wrought  great  wrong 
and  injustice  upon  many  less  emotional  natures,  just  as  sincere  and 
honest  in  their  spiritual  lives,  but  not  capable  of  enjoying  such 
extreme  states  of  religious  feeling.  The  effect  has  been  most 
unfortunate  and  it  has  wrought  evil  in  three  ways,  as  Pres.  King 
points  out  in  his  excellent  pamphlet  on  "Christian  Training  and 
the  Revival  as  Methods  of  Converting  Men" :  "First  it  has  tended 
to  lay  a  quite  unwholesome  emphasis  upon  the  form  of  religious 
experience,  instead  of  upon  the  real  fundamental  ethical  relation  to 
God  and  men ;    second,  it  has  tended  to  lead  men  to  more  or  less 


126 

superficial  and  self -deceived  imitation  of  others'  experiences; 
third,  it  has  tended  to  throw  into  deep  darkness  and  almost 
despair  some  of  the  most  conscientious  and  clear-sighted  men  and 
women,  whose  temperament  hardly  allowed  the  experiences 
sought  and  who  could  not  deceive  themselves  as  to  the  form  of 
their  experience,  but  knew  that  they  had  not  come  into  an  experi- 
ence of  the  prescribed  type.  These  three  mistakes  are  still  being 
repeated  again  and  again  by  many  most  earnest  and  conscientious 
religious  leaders." 

In  other  words,  it  is  quite  natural  for  men  of  a  striking  religious 
experience  to  insist  that  all  men  must  have  the  same  kind  to  be 
valid.  And  because  the  religious  leaders  of  the  world  have  been 
very  frequently  and  perhaps  usually  men  of  the  emotional  type, 
this  type  came  to  be  held  up  as  the  standard  and  truly  certified 
type,  not  to  be  departed  from.  And  the  invariable  danger  has 
been  to  discount  all  milder  and  quieter  types  of  experience  as 
lacking  the  essential  spiritual  quality.  But  knowing  better  the 
origin  and  nature  of  religious  emotions  and  the  conditions  under 
which  they  are  fostered  abnormally,  we  can  interpret  these  things 
more   intelligently   and   judge   them   more   rationally. 


in.    What  is  not  Essential  in  Religious  Experience. 

What  then  are  the  really  essential  things  in  religious  experi- 
ence, and  what  are  the  things  which  are  non-essential?  We  have 
seen  that  there  are  emotional  experiences  of  endless  variety  in 
conversion,  and  we  have  considered  some  of  the  reasons  for  this 
variety.  We  have  found  that  the  more  extreme  types  of  reli- 
gious experience  in  conversion  depend  upon  temperamental  condi- 
tions for  their  existence  and  upon  excessive  religious  excitement 
for  their  development  and  their  manifestations.  But  we  have 
also  found  that  these  are  not  the  essential  things  in  religion.  Let 
us  consider,  first,  what  are  not  to  be  regarded  as  essential  ex- 
periences in  conversion  so  that  we  may  afterward  consider  more 
intelligently  what  are  the  really  important  and  all-essential  things 
in  Christian  experience. 


127 


i.     States  of  Feeling  are  not  Essential. 

It  is  greatly  to  be  deplored  that  so  many  people  confuse  their 
feelings  with  states  of  religion.  It  is  a  matter  of  deep  regret 
that  so  much  emphasis  is  laid  by  many  religious  leaders  upon 
the  matter  of  feeling  in  religion,  as  though  the  amount  of  reli- 
gion in  a  seeker  after  God  could  be  measured  by  the  intensity  of 
his  religious  emotions.  It  is  a  great  pity  that  so  many  struggling 
souls  are  disturbed  and  distressed  beyond  measure  by  the  mis- 
taken notion  that  unless  they  have  a  vivid  and  overpowering 
sense  of  religious  emotion  they  cannot  be  regarded  as  being  in  a 
state  of  salvation,  when  as  a  matter  of  fact  the  Bible  does  not 
require  any  distinct  or  specific  state  of  feeling  at  all  for  discipleship. 
Not  feeling,  but  faith ;  not  emotion,  but  self-surrender ;  not 
ecstasy,  but  obedience;    these  are  the  biblical  requirements. 

Prof.  F.  G.  Peabody,  in  his  "Jesus  Christ  and  the  Christian 
Character,"  has  this  to  say  in  the  relation  of  the  feelings  to  reli- 
gion and  their  ethical  value :  "Feeling,  therefore,  has  in  itself  no 
moral  value.  Strictly  speaking,  there  is  no  ethics  of  the  emo- 
tions. The  emotions  are  corollaries  to  be  drawn,  rather  than 
problems  to  be  solved.  They  are  the  wave  which  leaps  up  in  light 
and  color  on  the  crest  of  the  heaving  ocean.  If  the  sea  is  deeply 
stirred,  its  crest  will  inevitably  carry  the  foam  of  feeling;  if  the 
sea  is  sluggish  and  flat,  the  whitecaps  of  emotion  cannot  be  induced 
to  break.  The  ethics  of  emotion,  then,  is  to  be  sought,  not  in 
the  emotion  itself,  but  in  the  source  from  which  it  proceeds. 
Feelings  which  are  apparently  akin  may  be,  ethically,  strangers 
to  each  other.  The  sense  of  the  beautiful  may  be  either  a  spir- 
itualizing and  refining  grace,  or  a  degrading  and  sensual  self- 
indulgence.  Religious  mysticism  may  express  itself  either  in 
exalted  vision  or  in  fleshly  ecstasies.  Even  the  supreme  emotion  of 
love,  whether  to  God  or  to  man,  may  represent  loyalty,  sacrifice 
and  service,  or  may  exhaust  itself  in  ineffective  sentimentalism 
and  pious  rapture."  The  feelings  are  only  accompaniments  of 
our  moral  attitude,  testifying  more  or  less  strongly  to  the  rightness 
or  wrongness  of  our  moral  course,  but  in  themselves  they  have 
9 


128 

no  moral  value.  They  are  not  things  to  be  sought  after  or  ends 
to  be  attained.  The  issues  of  life  and  the  decisions  of  character 
lie  not  in  our  religious  feelings  and  experiences  but  in  the  conscious 
and  deliberate  attitude  of  our  hearts  and  in  the  disposition  of 
our  wills.  Religious  feelings  are  not  character-determining. 
They  often  come  and  go  fitfully  and  arbitrarily.  They  are  not 
of  the  essence  or  vital  content  of  spirituality.  They  may  be 
caused  by  certain  physical  conditions ;  they  may  be  explained 
on  the  basis  of  temperament,  they  may  be  fostered  by  stimu- 
lation and  they  may  even  be  counterfeited. 

If  there  were  any  importance  attached  to  certain  states  of  reli- 
gious feeling,  or  if  a  striking  emotional  experience  in  conversion 
were  necessary  then  surely  there  ought  to  be  evidences  of  such 
necessity  either  in  the  teachings  of  Scripture  or  in  the  examples 
of  conversion  as  recorded  in  the  Bible.  But  we  look  for  such  evi- 
dences in  vain.  'Tn  the  New  Testament  we  find  no  preference 
given  to  revivals  or  to  the  experiences  which  they  foster.  Jesus 
makes  no  clear  reference  to  anything  of  the  sort.  Much  less 
does  He  directly  or  indirectly  command  such  methods  of  work 
or  the  seeking  of  such  experiences.  Among  His  immediate  dis- 
ciples not  one  appears  to  have  passed  through  conversion 
phenomena  of  the  emotional  type  and  only  Paul,  of  all  New 
Testament  characters,  stands  out  as  a  clear  case  of  the  kind."  But 
Paul  himself  does  not  appear  to  have  taken  his  own  experience 
as  a  standard  of  conversion,  nor  to  have  demanded  striking  reli- 
gious phenomena  in  others,  or  even  that  he  commonly  witnessed 
them  in  his  converts.  Other  New  Testament  conversions  were 
decidedly  unlike  Paul's.  The  blind  Bartimgeus,  who  called  upon 
Jesus  for  mercy  and  healing,  received  the  assuring  answer,  "Thy 
faith  has  made  thee  whole,"  and  immediately  he  followed  the 
Master  with  great  rejoicing.  The  woman  at  the  well  simply 
allowed  the  Master's  spirit  to  come  into  her  life  and  change 
it,  and  immediately  went  and  told  her  friends  that  she  had  found 
the  promised  Messiah.  The  Philippian  jailor  asked  with  fear  and 
trembling:  "What  must  I  do  to  be  saved,"  and  was  told,  "Be- 
lieve on  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  and  thou  shalt  be  saved,"  and 
without   any    prolonged   period    of   agony    of   spirit   he    received 


129 

the  blessing  as  it  was  in  Christ  Jesus  and  was  forthwith  baptized. 
Zacchaeus  desired  to  see  Jesus,  receiving  Him  in  his  house  by 
invitation  and  forthwith  declared  his  intention  to  abandon 
unrighteousness  with  the  result  that  Jesus  said :  "To-day 
salvation  has  come  into  this  house."  The  Ethiopian,  as  soon  as  he 
was  made  to  understand  fully  the  meaning  of  the  Gospel  message, 
requested  to  be  baptized,  and  without  any  recorded  emotional 
excitation  the  baptism  was  performed  and  he  went  on  his  way 
rejoicing.  Matthew,  sitting  at  the  receipt  of  custom,  heard  the 
Master  call,  "Follow  me,"  and  he  immediately  followed  Him. 
All  these  and  kindred  cases  show  most  conclusively,  as  does 
also  the  extraordinary  case  of  the  Apostle  Paul,  himself,  that 
there  is  no  particular  kind  of  emotional  experience  required  or 
taught  in  the  New  Testament.  It  is  well  to  get  this  clearly  and 
definitely  before  our  minds.  There  is  not  one  word  said  in  the 
Bible,  either  directly  or  indirectly,  of  the  necessity  of  having  any 
particular  kind  of  experience  or  of  having  any  striking  "witness 
of  the  spirit,"  or  of  having  the  striking  proof  of  the  "power," 
or  even  of  having  any  state  of  feeling  at  all.  This  is  surely  sig- 
nificant. There  is  much  said  of  the  necessity  of  faith  and  of 
the  importance  of  following  the  Master  and  of  the  absolute  need  of 
implicit  trust  in  God.  But  as  Mr.  Moody  himself  says :  "The 
Bible  does  not  say  that  he  that  feeleth  or  he  that  feeleth  and 
believeth  hath  everlasting  life,  nothing  of  the  kind ;  it  is  always, 
'He  that  believeth  on  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  shall  be  saved.'  " 

Neither  do  the  great  Protestant  Reformers  who  ushered  in 
the  great  Protestant  Reformation  teach  any  special  type  of 
experience  as  necessary  in  conversion.  These  men  were  power- 
ful religious  leaders  themselve's  and  labored  under  the  stress 
of  strong  religious  excitement  and  ferment.  And  they  might 
have  been  excused  for  some  extravagance  on  this  point.  And 
indeed  the  intrepid  Luther  himself  had  striking  religious  ex- 
periences, even  to  the  extent  of  seeing  the  Tempter  himself  in 
bodily  form.  Yet  nowhere  did  any  of  them  lay  any  burden  upon 
their  followers  by  prescribing  a  definite  or  specific  kind  of 
religious  experience  as  necessary  to  the  spiritual  life.  These 
mighty  interpreters  of  the  new  religious  spirit  ushered  in   by 


I30 

the  Reformation  preached  most  strongly  and  most  profoundly 
upon  the  cardinal  doctrines  of  faith  in  God,  of  the  saving  influ- 
ence of  the  Gospel  and  of  the  value  of  supreme  trust  in  the  wis- 
dom, love,  and  mercy  of  a  kind  Heavenly  Father.  True  they 
also  spoke  of  Christian  experience  and  of  the  quiet  and  comfort- 
ing assurance  that  comes  through  complete  surrender  to  the 
will  of  God;  but  nowhere  in  their  voluminous  writings  can  these 
pioneers  of  the  Protestant  Reformation  be  cited  in  proof  of  a 
theory  of  conversion  which  emphasizes  the  emotional  element 
and  insists  on  any  striking  states  of  feeling  as  essential  to  the 
regenerated  state.  They  say  nothing  of  conversion  by  feeling, 
or  of  a  witness  of  the  spirit  in  terms  of  emotion.  It  is  faith, 
trust,  self-surrender.  Christian  life,  and  Christian  service. 

The  same  testimony  may  be  cited  concerning  the  teaching 
of  the  great  modern  revivalists :  John  Wesley,  Geo.  Whitfield, 
Jonathan  Edwards,  Charles  G.  Finney,  Dwight  L.  Moody. 
Thousands  and  tens  of  thousands  of  souls  were  converted  under 
the  preaching  of  these  mighty  men  oi  the  spirit.  And  it  is  also 
true  that  under  the  influence  of  the  powerful  religious  awaken- 
ing occasioned  by  their  stirring  appeals,  men  and  women 
frequently  fell  on  the  floor  as  dead,  and  experienced  visions,  hallu- 
cinations and  all  kinds  of  strange  subjective  experiences.  But  they 
never  commended  these  striking  manifestations  or  considered 
them  as  necessary  to  genuine  conversion.  In  fact,  these 
phenomena  gave  Wesley  no  little  concern  at  times,  and  Jonathan 
Edwards  recognized  that  they  could  be  imitated  and  even 
brought  about  by  Satanic  influences,  and  hence  he  set  no  value 
upon  them.  Dwight  L.  Moody,  the  greatest  of  modern  revivalists, 
while  always  emphasizing  the  necessity  of  conversion  and  of  Chris- 
tian certainty,  and  insisting  not  only  on  the  possibility,  but  on  the 
reality  of  instantaneous  conversion,  frequently  cautions  his  hearers 
not  to  build  on  their  feelings  or  to  trust  on  their  emotional  states, 
but  to  put  their  entire  faith  on  "Him,  who  is  the  way,  the  truth 
and  the  life."  He  uses  these  apt  words,  "Now  we  have  power 
to  see  and  to  hear,  and  we  also  have  power  to  believe.  It  is  all 
folly  for  inquirers  to  take  the  ground  that  they  cannot  believe. 
They   can   if  they   will.      But   the   trouble   with   most   people   is 


131 

that  they  have  confounded  feeling  with  believing.  Now  feel- 
ing has  nothing  whatsoever  to  do  with  believing.  The  Bible 
does  not  say:  He  that  feeleth  or  he  that  feeleth  and  believeth 
hath  everlasting  life.  Nothing  of  the  kind.  But  it  does  say 
and  say  distinctly:  'Verily,  verily,  I  say  unto  you,  he  that 
heareth  my  word  and  believeth  on  him  that  sent  me  hath  ever- 
lasting life,  and  shall  not  come  into  judgment !'  " 

It  is  important  to  take  these  things  seriously  to  heart  so  that 
we  may  have  a  clear  and  definite  understanding  of  the  rightful 
place  of  the  feelings  in  the  religious  life.  The  feelings  are  not 
to  be  cultivated  for  their  own  sakes.  Lofty  states  of  religious 
emotion  may  have  no  value  at  all  and  they  may  be  evidences 
of  profound  religious  influences  at  work.  They  may  be  manu- 
factured, and  therefore  lack  genuineness,  or  they  may  be 
spontaneous  and  carry  with  them  some  measure  of  religious 
worth.  A  man's  state  of  religion  cannot  and  must  not  be 
measured  by  the  degree  and  intensity  of  his  religious  experience. 
He  may  have  strong  feelings  and  be  really  unregenerated  at 
heart.  He  may  have  relatively  little  religious  emotion  and  may 
be  one  of  the  world's  great  saints.  The  inquiring  sinner  should 
not  begin  with  an  analysis  of  his  feelings.  He  must  address 
himself  resolutely  to  the  subject  of  his  moral  attitude,  which 
needs  reorganization  and  regeneration.  The  young  convert 
should  not  rely  upon  the  unstable  condition  of  his  post-con- 
version feelings,  for  these  will  leave  him  frequently  in  doubt  and 
uncertainty  as  to  his  real  spiritual  condition.  Feelings  will  come 
and  feelings  will  go,  but  they  are  not  the  measure  of  one's  moral 
worth,  nor  do  they  mark  stages  in  one's  spiritual  progress. 
As  loving  witnesses  of  the  spirit's  presence  in  our  lives  they  are 
to  be  welcomed  if  they  come.  But  absence  of  religious  emo- 
tion in  a  more  or  less  pronounced  form  is  not  a  proof  sufificient 
of  an  imperfect  moral  state.  This  lack  may  be  accounted  for 
by  temperament,  by  physical  condition,  by  a  state  of  health. 
No!  Feelings  must  not  be  made  the  criterion  of  moral  worth. 
That  would  be  like  building  upon  the  sand. 

"Who,  then,  is  the  Christian  in  his  emotional  life?  He  is  not 
to  be  recognized  by  his  ecstatic  utterances  or  turbulent  repentances 


132 

or  demonstrations  of  passionate  affection  for  a  visualized  Christ. 
These  states  of  feeling  may  be  the  best  expression  of  the  Christian 
character,  or  may,  on  the  other  hand,  have  no  moral  significance. 
Christian  emotion  is  an  instrument  of  Christian  consecration. 
The  Christian  has  his  exalted  moments  of  emotional  communion 
with  God,  like  those  in  which  Jesus  said,  'All  things  have  been 
delivered  unto  me  by  my  Father;'  but  these  moments  of  vision 
rise  out  of  valleys  of  common  duty-doing,  as  when  Jesus,  in  the 
same  passage,  said  to  the  weary  and  heavy-laden,  'I  will  give 
you  rest.'  The  Christian,  like  his  Master,  has  his  mount  of 
transfigured  feeling;  but  at  its  foot  waits  the  life  of  service,  as 
Jesus  went  down  to  heal  the  demoniac  boy.  The  Christian  is 
touched  by  the  feeling  of  compassion;  but  it  is  a  conscientious 
and  continuous  compassion,  as  when  the  Samaritan  set  the  suf- 
ferer on  his  own  beast  and  took  care  of  him.  Behind  Christian 
feeling,  stands  Christian  thoughtfulness ;  behind  Christian  passion, 
power  in  reserve.  The  emotions  are  not  superficial  agitations 
of  nervous  excitement,  like  little  waves  tossed  up  by  a  passing 
steamer  with  its  churning  wheels;  they  are  the  crests  that  lift 
themselves  when  the  depths  of  nature  are  stirred,  and  the  whole 
character  is  lifted,  like  a  heaving  roller,  to  the  surface  of  life." 
Thus  Prof.  Peabody  characterizes  the  Christian  in  his  emotional 
life.  It  is  a  life  that  is  tinged  with  emotions  of  a  chastened  self- 
restraint  and  of  an  unselfish  service. 

2,    ''Visions/'  ''Voices/'  ''Trances/*  and  the  Like  not  Essential  to 
Christian  Experience, 

Some  people  have  an  idea  that  some  striking  manifestation 
of  divine  power  in  the  form  of  "visions,"  voices,"  "dreams,"  or 
the  like  is  necessary  for  genuine  conversion.  But  such  phe- 
nomena have  necessarily  no  religious  significance.  They  are 
easily  explained  and  are  of  frequent  occurrence,  not  only  in 
religious  excitement,  but  also  in  times  of  high  fever,  great  bodily 
weakness  or  nervous  derangement.  It  is  comparatively  easy 
for  the  human  mind  under  normal  conditions  "to  see"  objects 
with  the  mind's  eye,  or  "to  hear"  voices  and  sounds  with  the 


133 

mind's  ear.  With  the  aid  of  a  good  memory  or  of  a  vivid 
imagination,  we  can  readily  reproduce  the  experiences  of  our 
younger  days.  We  can  see  the  old  homestead,  the  familiar 
scenes  of  play  and  toil,  the  faces  of  friends  and  loved  ones;  or 
we  can  hear  voices  of  parents  or  playmates  long  since  silent  in 
death,  with  the  vividness  and  reality  almost  of  real  life.  A 
retentive  memory  and  a  lively  imagination  not  only  enable  us 
to  recall  very  vividly  past  scenes  and  experiences,  but  also  to 
conjure  up  new  scenes  and  surroundings,  to  see  new  sights,  to 
hear  strange  voices,  and  to  live  in  a  new  world  of  our  own  mak- 
ing. Our  "day  dreams"  are  sometimes  strikingly  real  and  life- 
like. What  we  think  about  most  frequently  and  most  intently, 
makes  the  deepest  impression  upon  our  minds  and,  therefore, 
furnishes  the  best  material  for  day  dreams,  or  night  dreams 
either. 

In  times  of  sickness  or  nervous  disorder  or  religious  excite- 
ment, our  imaginations  are  stirred  to  unusual  activity,  and  hence 
the  greater  frequency  and  vividness  of  pictures,  sights,  voices, 
dreams,  and  like  phenomena.  A  good  ministerial  brother  told 
me  not  long  since  that,  during  a  period  of  great  nervous  depres- 
sion, he  had  several  most  striking  "visions"  of  the  glory  of 
heaven  and  the  dazzling  splendor  of  angels  and  heard  most 
beautiful  strains  of  heavenly  music.  But  the  good  brother 
attributed  no  special  significance  to  the  "vision,"  because  he  was 
subject  at  the  time  to  spells  of  nervous  weakness  and  disorder. 
A  young  girl  of  fifteen,  during  an  attack  of  fever  and  under  the 
influence  of  extraordinary  nervous  excitement,  not  many  years 
ago,  heard  the  voice  of  an  angel,  and  received  comforting 
messages  of  hope  and  encouragement  to  members  of  the  family, 
under  circumstances  of  the  greatest  impressiveness.  For  hours 
at  a  time  she  spoke  incessantly  of  the  beautiful  heavenly  sights 
that  she  saw  and  of  the  wondrously  sweet  and  delightful  music 
which  she  heard  in  her  delirium.  All  these  things  seemed  very 
real  at  the  time,  but  to-day  there  is  not  a  vestige  left  in  the 
memory  of  the  young  lady.  The  history  of  nervous  disorders 
through  sickness,  fever  or  bodily  weakness  of  some  kind  or  other, 
is  full  of  such  strange  phenomena,  some  of  which  may  have  moral 


134 

or  religious  significance,  but  not  necessarily  so.  The  spirit  may 
operate  in  such  ways,  but  they  are  surely  not  the  normal  methods 
of  its  activity. 

On  similar  grounds,  and  for  similar  reasons,  the  striking 
religious  experiences  of  many  religious  leaders  may  be  explained. 
Under  strong  religious  excitement,  and  as  a  result  of  prolonged 
intense  thought  on  certain  religious  subjects,  as  for  instance,  God, 
Heaven,  the  person  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  or  a  personal 
devil,  the  mind  may  conceive  of  these  realities  in  a  most  vivid 
and  impressive  manner.  Thus  Paul  "saw  a  light"  and  "heard 
a  voice,"  Augustine  heard  a  "voice."  Luther  saw  the  bodily 
form  of  the  Tempter,  and  hurled  his  ink  bottle  at  him,  where- 
upon he  fled.  Charles  G.  Finney  saw  his  Saviour  stand  be- 
fore him  transformed.  Some  of  the  monks  of  the  Middle  Ages 
had  most  remarkable  experiences  of  this  kind.  And  not  infre- 
quently, and  for  similar  reasons,  some  of  the  converts  of  our 
own  time,  have  lively  experiences  of  "visions"  and  "voices." 
They  may  behold  glimpses  of  the  glories  of  Heaven.  The\' 
may  see  their  blessed  Redeemer  with  the  marks  of  nails  in  His 
hands  and  in  His  feet;  they  may  hear  voices  of  angels,  or  of 
loved  ones  long  since  departed.  They  may  have  verses  of  Scrip- 
ture impressed  upon  their  minds.  They  may  behold  beautiful 
forms  of  spiritual  beings,  or  ugly,  terrifying  forms  of  evil  spirits, 
and  possibly  hear  the  sound  of  intelligible  voices,  either  of  com- 
fort or  of  warning.  All  these  things  and  many  others  of  a  similar 
character,  are  of  frequent  occurrence  with  certain  emotional 
natures,  and  under  certain  mental  and  physical  conditions. 

But  no  special  spiritual  significance  must  be  attributed  to  most 
of  these  striking  experiences.  They  may  have  some  spiritual 
value  and  they  may  be  utterly  void  of  spiritual  meaning.  They 
may  be  of  the  nature  of  a  delusion,  or  of  an  hallucination.  They 
may  come  with  deep  religious  thought  and  feeling,  and  they 
may  come  as  the  result  of  nervous  disorders  or  of  narcotic  stimula- 
tion. The  man  who  is  religiously  intoxicated  and  the  man  who 
is  alcohoHcally  intoxicated  may  have  similar  experiences  of 
delusion  and  hallucination,  and  the  one  may  have  just  about  as 
much  spiritual  value  as  the  other.      The  point  to  be  remembered 


135 

is  that  these  cases  of  hallucination,  of  automatism,  of  special 
^'sights"  and  "voices,"'  belong  almost  invariably  to  the  emotional 
temperament,  and  to  this  temperament  only.  These  special 
experiences  are  not  prescribed  by  Scripture;  they  are  incapable 
of  being  experienced  by  certain  temperaments,  and  they  are 
not  essential  to  conversion  or  even  to  normal  Christian  experience. 
When  we  hear  emotional  enthusiasts,  therefore,  testify  of  their 
remarkable  experiences  of  heavenly  visions  or  of  terrifying 
shapes  and  forms  of  the  evil  one,  and  when  we  observe  how  they 
glory  in  these  things  as  being  seemingly  superior  manifestations 
of  divine  favor,  then  we  know  how  to  make  due  allowances. 
These  phenomena  are  not  to  be  sought  for  their  own  sakes. 
They  are  not  to  be  regarded  as  special  tokens  of  divine  favor. 
They  may  have  much  or  little  spiritual  meaning  or  none  at 
all.  They  may  be  counterfeited  and  imitated  by  the  devil,  as 
Jonathan  Edwards  claims,  and  hence  cannot  be  considered  as 
tokens  of  a  superior  spiritual  state  or  signs  of  divine  power.  They 
are  absolutely  worthless  as  evidences  of  conversion,  or  as  tokens 
of  divine  favor,  unless  we  know  their  origin  and  are  sure  of 
their  genuineness.  As  Professor  James  puts  it :  "The  super-normal 
incidents,  such  as  voices,  visions  and  overpowering  impressions 
of  the  meaning  of  suddenly  presented  Scripture  texts,  the  melt- 
ing emotions  and  tumultuous  affections  connected  with  the  crisis 
of  change,  may  all  come  by  way  of  nature,  or  worse  still,  be 
counterfeited  by  Satan.  The  real  witness  of  the  spirit  to  the 
second  birth  is  to  be  found  only  in  the  disposition  of  the  genuine 
child  of  God,  the  permanently  patient  heart,  the  love  of  self 
eradicated." 

3,   The  so-called  **Powef '*  and  Religious  "Ecstasy*^  not  Essential. 

Among  the  denominations  which  lay  great  stress  upon  emo- 
tional experiences  in  conversion,  the  so-called  "power"  is  fre- 
quently considered  as  a  test  or  proof  of  conversion.  It  is  often 
urged  by  religious  enthusiasts  of  this  extreme  type  that  every 
human  soul  must  pass  through  a  peculiar,  striking  and  abrupt 
kind    of    emotional    experience,    which    is   characterized    by    such 


136 

terms  as  the  "power,"  "getting-  happy,"  and  "getting  reHgion,'"  or 
"finding  peace,"  before  it  can  be  considered  in  a  state  of  grace. 
According  to  this  doctrine,  so  prevalent  among  the  emotional 
rehgionists  of  the  Methodist,  Evangelical  and  other  denomina- 
tions of  the  revival  type  of  conversion,  there  is  only  one  entrance 
to  the  Kingdom,  and  that  is  through  the  gate  of  emotional  revolu- 
tion and  chaos;  there  is  only  one  method  of  salvation,  and  that 
is  the  one  of  the  "anxious  bench,"  the  protracted  meeting,  the 
religious  frenzy  and  the  so-called  "power;"  there  is  only  one 
possible  condition  of  discipleship,  and  that  is  through  tumultuous 
disturbances  of  the  religious  feelings,  and  through  violent  emo- 
tional frenzy,  resulting  in  a  "witness  of  the  spirit,"  with  power, 
and  in  uncontrollable  movements  of  the  body,  such  as  shouting, 
clapping  of  hands,  jumping,  convulsions,  often  ending  in  a  dead 
swoon  as  the  climax.  These  violent  and  abrupt  emotional 
experiences  are  supposed  to  be  the  results  of  the  outpouring  of 
the  Holy  Spirit,  and  as  necessary  and  indispensable  conditions 
for  membership  to  Christ's  spiritual  kingdom,  in  spite  of  the 
fact  that  Jesus  himself  said  not  one  word  in  justification  of  such 
an  arbitrary  and  unreasonable  doctrine.  Such  extreme  emotional 
enthusiasts  stoutly  maintain  that  the  denominations  which  con- 
duct an  orderly  and  dignified  type  of  religious  service  that  ap- 
peals to  the  intelligence  and  the  reason  are  "dead  churches ;" 
that  members  of  such  denominations,  whose  religion  consists  not 
in  empty  profession  or  in  vulgar  and  uncharitable  criticisms  of 
others,  but  in  a  quiet,  earnest  life  of  love  and  service,  are  "icicles" 
or  "unconverted"  or  "children  of  the  devil;"  and  that  the  places 
of  public  worship  where  religious  services  are  conducted  with 
dignified  feeling  and  a  chastened  restraint  of  the  emotions  are 
"refrigerators,"  or  "cemeteries,"  or  places  where  the  children 
of  wrath  are  lulled  to  sleep  and  made  comfortable  and  satisfied 
in  their  state  of  "unregeneration."  For  such  extreme  and  un- 
thinking religionists,  pious  noise  and  confusion  take  the  place 
of  thought  and  intelligence ;  emotional  eflfervescence  and  froth, 
that  of  reason  and  judgment;  religious  fervor  and  ecstasy,  that  of 
calmness  of  the  soul  and  benevolence  of  will.  The  greatest  saints, 
according  to  this  conception  of  conversion,  are  those  who  have 


137 

the  most  frequent  experiences  of  the  "power"  or  who  can  make 
the  loudest  professions  or  indulge  in  the  most  violent  and 
boisterous  demonstrations  of  religion  in  prayers  or  testimony, 
however  empty  the  head,  or  unchanged  the  heart,  or  inconsistent 
and  unfruitful  the  life  may  be.  It  were  laughable,  if  it  were 
not  pitiful  and  pathetic,  that  such  crude  and  unscriptural  con- 
ceptions of  religion  still  find  adherents  and  advocates  in  our  own 
day  and  generation,  much  to  the  pity  and  disgust  of  all  intelligent 
and  reasonable  disciples  of  the  Master,  who  seek  to  serve  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  not  in  "word,"  neither  in  "tongue,"  but  "in 
deed  and  in  truth,"  and  who  delight  to  worship  the  Lord  their 
God,  who  is  a  Spirit,  "in  spirit  and  in  truth." 

When  one  hears  of  such  performances  one  is  reminded  of 
the  story  of  Elijah  and  the  prophets  of  Baal,  and  the  two  types 
of  religious  service  contrasted  in  that  strange  and  interesting 
account.  The  prophets  of  Baal  were  loud  and  boisterous ;  they 
called  on  the  name  of  Baal  "from  morning  even  until  noon,"  "O 
Baal,  hear  us;"  they  "leaped"  upon  the  altar;  they  "cried  aloud;" 
they  "cut  themselves  after  their  manner  with  knives  and  lancets," 
with  the  hope  that  thereby  they  might  "compel"  their  god  to 
hear;  they  were  told  by  Elijah  in  a  taunting  manner  to  cry 
louder  and  louder  for  fear  their  god  might  be  absent  from  home, 
or  engaged  in  conversation,  or  even  asleep,  and  hence  "must  be 
waked  up."  This  is  not  an  altogether  inappropriate  description 
of  the  method  of  conducting  religious  services  in  some  localities 
to-day.  One  is  tempted  to  ask  whether  it  can  be  possible  that 
our  God  may  at  times  be  off  on  a  journey,  or  engaged  in  con- 
versation, or  possibly  be  even  asleep,  when  it  is  deemed  necessary 
by  some  of  the  perfervid  types  of  religionists  in  our  enlightened 
times  to  cry  aloud  to  God  with  all  the  intensity  and  volume  of 
which  the  human  voice  is  capable,  to  "leap"  as  it  were,  upon 
the  altar,  to  "cry  aloud"  unceasingly  and  in  unison,  lest  God 
might  not  hear,  and  to  "cut  themselves,"  as  it  were,  with  spiritual 
implements  of  torture,  that  they  might  thereby  "compel"  the 
Lord  their  God  to  have  mercy  upon  them,  and  to  lend  an  un- 
willing ear  to  their  passionate  appeals.  How^  dififerent  the 
quiet,  assuring  faith  of  an  Elijah,  who  came  "at  the  time  of  the 


138 

offering  of  the  evening  sacrifice,"  with  his  people,  before  the 
Most  High,  in  quietness  of  spirit,  and  with  assurance  bom  of 
impHcit  faith  and  trust  in  God,  and  Hfted  up  his  voice  to  Heaven 
with  the  petition:  "Hear  me,  O  Lord,  hear  me,  that  this  peo- 
ple may  know  that  thou  art  the  Lord  God."  And  the  Lord  God 
hearkened  and  heard  the  simple  prayer  of  Elijah  with  the  result 
that  "the  fire  of  the  Lord  fell  and  consumed  the  burnt  sacrifice, 
and  the  wood,  and  the  stones,  and  the  dust,  and  licked  up  the 
water  that  was  in  the  trench." 

The  religious  services  conducted  in  some  localities  and  among 
some  emotional  enthusiasts  in  our  day,  with  its  accompaniments 
of  confusion,  boisterous  and  unrestrained  explosions  of  religious 
feeling,  with  its  "crying  aloud"  from  morning  even  until  noon, 
or  from  evening  until  midnight,  its  "leaping"  upon  the  altar  and 
its  self-torture,  to  the  end  that  religious  frenzy  and  the  "power" 
may  be  produced,  may  not  have  more  religious  value  in  the 
sight  of  God  than  the  emotional  and  irrational  performances 
of  the  prophets  of  Baal.  Religious  frenzy  thus  produced  may 
have  some  religious  value,  and  it  may  be  absolutely  immoral  in 
its  expression,  and  an  abomination  in  the  sight  of  God.  If  the 
mistaken  and  deluded  promoters  of  this  kind  of  religious  hysteria 
and  emotional  frenzy  would  only  know  the  real  origin  of  such  phe- 
nomena, they  would  not  attribute  so  much  spiritual  significance  to 
them.  In  various  forms,  such  states  of  religious  frenzy  have  ap- 
peared and  reappeared  throughout  the  historv^  of  religion.  Ex- 
amples of  such  strange  and  violent  religious  experiences  are  found 
"in  the  sacred  frenzy  of  the  Bacchantes,  the  trance  of  the  sibyls,  the 
ecstasy  of  the  Neo-Platonists,  the  enlightenment  that  came  to 
Buddha  under  the  sacred  Bo-tree,  the  visions  of  the  canonized 
saints,  the  absorption  into  God  experienced  by  various  mystics, 
the  religious  epidemics  of  the  Middle  Ages,"  and  the  wild 
and  frenzied  experiences  of  the  American  Indians  during  the 
excitement  of  their  religious  dances.  It  is  manifestly  not  a 
"Christian"  experience.  "The  religious  history  of  humanity," 
as  Professor  Bowne  has  said,  "quite  apart  from  Christianity,  is 
full  of  strange  and  abnormal  experiences,  which  are  supposed  to 
be  peculiarly  religious.    Mohammedanism  and  Hinduism  abound 


139 

in  phenomena  of  this  sort.  They  are  even  possible  on  the  purely 
physiological  plane  through  the  influence  of  alcohol  and 
anaesthetics  and  narcotics." 

A  good  Christian  brother  recently  assured  me  that  the  rea- 
son for  some  strange  and  unusual  religious  experiences  of  his 
was  the  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost  in  his  soul.  And  the  vivid- 
ness and  strangeness  of  his  religious  experience  need  not  be 
doubted.  But  to  attribute  all  such  strange  and  abnormal  emo- 
tional experiences  to  the  agency  of  the  Holy  Ghost  is  to  mis- 
understand and  confuse  the  nature  and  origin  of  religious 
emotions.  When  we  know  such  unusual  experiences  as  trances, 
visions,  voices,  catalepsy  and  the  "power"  have  been  experienced 
in  all  ages  of  the  world,  by  heathen  Greeks,  by  fanatical 
Mohammedans,  by  dreamy  Buddhists,  and  by  savage  and 
uncivilized  American  Indians,  as  well  as  by  religious  enthusiasts 
and  emotional  religionists  of  the  Christian  church  in  all  ages, 
then  we  must  seek  some  other  explanation  than  the  agency  of 
the  Holy  Spirit.  The  Holy  Spirit  may  be  present  in  some  of 
these  strange  religious  phenomena,  but  He  is  most  assuredly 
not  the  sole  cause  or  origin  of  them,  or  else  we  must  assume 
His  activity  as  being  lawless  and  arbitrary  and  not  limited  to 
the  time  and  people  of  the  Christian  dispensation.  And  when 
we  know  further  that  these  same  unusual  phenomena,  like  the 
"power,"  may  be  experienced  by  men  under  the  influence  of  liquor, 
or  other  stimulants,  or  may  be  produced  by  absolutely  unspiritual 
and  even  unmoral  conditions,  and  with  physical  stimuli,  as 
has  been  demonstrated  again  and  again,  then  we  must  be 
careful  in  attributing  every  religious  phenomena  of  this  sort  to 
the  Holy  Ghost.  A  great  many  sins  have  been  committed  in 
the  name  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  "Under  the  influence  of  religious 
excitement  there  occurs,"  as  Professor  Coe  says,  "a  sporadic  case 
of  hallucination,  or  of  motor  automatism,  or  of  autohypnotism, 
taking  the  form  of  trance,  vision,  voices  or  catalepsy."  This  is 
the  simple  explanation  of  the  "power"  and  similar  religious 
phenomena.  That  they  have  no  religious  significance  whatso- 
ever, no  one  would  want  to  assert.  To  claim  that  such  experiences 
are     necessary     or    essential    to    conversion     or    sane     religious 


140 

perience  would  be  absurd  and  ridiculous.  They  have  their 
origin  in  an  emotional  temperament,  they  are  fostered  and  pro- 
duced by  strong  religious  excitement  and  they  are  frequently 
accompanied  by  the  most  disgusting  performances.  To  attribute 
such  lawless  and  abnormal  experiences  to  the  agency  of  the  Holy 
Ghost  is  an  insult  to  true  religion,  and  a  reflection  upon  the 
sanity  and  intelligence  6f  God's  Holy  Spirit. 

It  is  pathetic  to  think  that  there  are  still  Christian  communities 
and  Christian  churches  among  us  at  the  present  time,  whose 
chief  aim  seems  to  be  to  foster  this  unhealthy  and  abnormal 
types  of  religious  experience.  It  is  really  pitiful  that  sincere 
Christian  men  and  women  can  find  it  in  their  hearts  to  encourage 
and  propagate  a  form  of  emotional  frenzy  and  of  religious 
intoxication  which  is  absolutely  unwarranted  by  Scripture,  and 
contrary  to  reason  and  intelligence.  What  excesses  have  been 
committed  in  the  name  of  religion !  And  to  insist  that  all  souls 
shall  be  obliged  to  enter  the  Kingdom  by  the  method  of  emo- 
tional conversion  and  the  so-called  "power"'  is  to  do  violence 
to  many  a  sensitive  religious  nature,  and  to  cause  it  unneces- 
sary suffering  and  agony.  To  make  it  possible  for  every  emo- 
tional nature  to  respond  violently  to  religious  influences 
requires  a  process  of  religious  excitement  and  ferment,  and  a 
period  of  more  or  less  protracted  emotional  agitation  altogether 
uncalled  for  in  Scripture.  And  to  work  for  striking  emotional 
experiences  and  confidently  to  expect  them  is  to  seek  "signs 
and  wonders,"  which  expectation  Jesus  condemned  in  the  Jews. 
To  cultivate  the  religious  feelings,  and  to  stir  them  up  excessively 
and  unduly  for  the  mere  pleasure  of  "enjoying  religion"  is  a 
form  of  religious  dissipation  which  is  no  less  disastrous  than 
many  other  forms  of  excessive  indulgence.  The  religious  feel- 
ings were  given  us  that  they  might  serve  the  higher  and  nobler 
ends  of  reverence,  of  worship,  of  religious  thoughtfulness  and  of 
Christian  charity.  There  is  a  physical  debauchery  by  overin- 
dulgence in  stimulants.  There  is  a  religious  debauchery  by 
overindulgence  in  religious  stimulants  which  is  absolutely  unmoral 
and  dangerous.  The  flabby  kind  of  character  and  the  low 
standard     of     morals     produced     by     excessive     indulgence     in 


141 

•oniotionalism  in  relig^ion  is  only  too  manifest  where  this  type  of 
religion  flourishes.  To  magnify  the  feelings  in  religion  is  to 
subvert  the  moral  standards.  To  indulge  the  rehgious  emotions 
excessively  to  the  neglect  of  the  intelligence  and  the  will  is 
liable  to  foster  the  kind  of  ethical  standards  of  the  negro  type 
which  regards  it  justifiable  to  rob  the  chicken  coop  or  the  melon 
patch  so  long  as  you  are  not  detected.  The  greatest  saint  of  the 
emotional  type,  with  most  frequent  attacks  of  the  "power," 
and  with  the  loudest  professions  of  loyalty  to  Christ,  is  not 
infrequently  the  most  dubious  and  crooked  in  his  business 
transactions.  Unduly  to  indulge  the  emotions  in  religion  is  to 
allow  the  moral  forces  to  evaporate  in  "heat  and  smoke,"  and 
leave  the  moral  fibres  flabby  and  the  moral  standards  erratic. 
This  is  the  most  charitable  explanation  of  the  fact  that  prac- 
tically all  business  men  of  all  religious  denominations  expect  more 
business  honesty  and  business  integrity  at  the  hands  of  the  worldly 
and  the  non-professors  of  religion,  than  they  do  of  many  of  the 
extreme  types  of  emotionalism  in  religion,  whose  religion  too 
frequently  consists  only  in  pious  professions  and  whose  profes- 
sions too  often  belie  their  ordinary  daily  conduct  and  life.  "By 
their  fruits  ye  shall  know  them,"  not  by  their  professions. 

Excessive  emotionalism  in  religion  is  to  be  looked  upon  with 
distrust  and  disfavor.  "Nothing  could  be  more  exaggerated," 
says  Peabody  in  his  "Religion  of  an  Educated  Man,"  "than  to 
regard  the  ecstasies  and  fevers,  the  earthquakes  and  volcanoes 
of  spiritual  experience  as  normal  aspects  of  the  religious  life. 
Under  such  a  view,  religion  would  not  be  a  form  of  health  and 
sanity,  but  a  form  of  intoxication  or  fever,  and  the  religious  life, 
intermittent,  spasmodic,  hysterical,  must  fail  to  command  the 
rational  confidence  of  an  educated  man.  These  abnormal  inci- 
dents, these  volcanic  eruptions,  in  fact,  make  more  impressive 
the  orderliness  and  continuity  which  mark  the  normal  condition 
of  the  spiritual  life.  The  religious  nature  is  no  more  abnormal 
and  revolutionary  than  the  physical  or  intellectual  life  of  man. 
It  is  not  a  scene  of  catastrophes  and  pathological  excesses,  but 
of  a  silent  process  of  evolution  and  education,  of  expansion, 
progress  and  growth." 


142 


4.     The  Spirit  of  Over-Confidence  and  of  Self-Satisfaction  not 
Essential. 

It  is  not  necessary  for  genuine  Christian  experience  that  a 
behever  should  be  over-confident  of  his  true  spiritual  state  or 
self-satisfied  with  his  Christian  attainments.  In  fact,  too  great 
assurance  of  one's  spiritual  excellence  is  only  too  frequently  a 
sure  indication  of  self-deception  or  of  hypocrisy.  It  behooves 
the  earnest  Christian  disciple  to  speak  of  his  spiritual  states  and 
achievements  in  the  language  of  moderation  and  self-restraint. 
It  is  very  true  that  a  disciple  of  the  Master  should  be  sure  of  his 
attitude  of  loyalty  and  of  devotion,  but  he  is  not  called  upon  to 
be  over-confident  or  boastful.  Too  great  confidence  begets 
spiritual  pride,  and  spiritual  pride,  we  are  told,  goeth  before  a 
fall.  When  Peter  was  most  confident  in  his  assertion.  "Though 
all  should  forsake  thee  and  leave  thee,  yet  will  not  I,"  he  was 
on  the  very  brink  of  his  great  denial  of  the  Master.  We  may 
well  rejoice  in  our  spiritual  redemption  and  in  the  evidences  of 
God's  goodness  and  mercy  to  us,  but  the  knowledge  of  our  many 
shortcomings  and  of  our  imperfections  should  make  us 
distrustful  of  our  own  strength  and  dissatisfied  with  our  own 
spiritual  attainments.  An  earnest  seeker  after  spiritual  excellence 
is  profoundly  grateful,  on  the  one  hand,  for  numberless  tokens 
of  divine  help  and  favor  received,  and,  on  the  other  hand,  deeply 
grieved  and  humiliated  over  the  consciousness  that  his  life  has 
not  been  as  "fruitful"  and  his  spiritual  progress  not  as  rapid  as 
might  have  been  expected.  A  true  knowledge  of  one's  spiritual 
shortcomings  and  weaknesses  should  lead  to  spiritual  meekness 
and  humility  and  not  to  spiritual  pride  and  self-righteousness. 

One  of  the  deplorable  results  of  emotionalism  in  religion  is 
the  tendency,  on  the  part  of  the  more  excitable  natures,  to 
boastful  over-confidence  and  to  pharisaical  self-righteousness. 
A  truly  converted  man  ought  to  be  possessed  of  the  spirit  of 
meekness  and  humility,  but  quite  the  opposite  is  frequently  true 
of  the  converts  of  emotional  revivalism.  This  tendency  to 
self-exaltation  in  religious  matters  must  have  been  prevalent  in 


143 

the  days  of  the  great  revival  under  Jonathan  Edwards,  for  he 
writes  about  it  after  this  fashion:  "It  is  no  sufficient  reason 
to  determine  that  men  are  saints  and  their  affections  gracious, 
because  the  affections  they  have  are  attended  with  an  exceeding 
confidence  that  their  state  is  good  and  their  affections  divine." 
Edwards  contends  that  such  boastful  professions  as  the  following, 
"I  know  certainly  that  God  is  my  Father,"  "I  know  so  surely 
that  I  shall  go  to  heaven  as  if  I  were  there,"  "I  know  that  God 
is  now  manifesting  Himself  to  my  soul  and  is  now  smiling  upon 
me,"  "I  know  that  I  am  in  a  state  of  sinlessness  and  am  thankful 
that  'I  am  not  as  other  men  are,'  "  and  others  of  like  character 
so  often  heard  by  over-confident  professors  of  religion,  are  to 
be  attributed  to  an  "overbearing,  high-handed  and  violent  sort  of 
confidence,"  which  has  not  the  countenance  of  "true  Christian 
assurance,"  but  savors  of  the  "spirit  of  the  Pharisees,  who  never 
doubted  that  they  were  the  most  eminent  saints"  to  be  found 
anywhere. 

It  is  almost  inconceivable  that  a  truly  penitent  soul,  who 
professes  to  be  a  follower  of  the  meek  and  "lowly  Jesus,"  should 
find  it  in  his  heart,  as  is  so  frequently  the  case,  to  rejoice  in  his 
own  superior  goodness  and  virtue,  to  sit  in  judgment  upon  the 
religious  state  of  others,  and  to  condemn  them  indiscriminately 
to  "outer  darkness"  and  utter  hopelessness,  to  speak  boastfully 
and  sacrilegiously  of  favored  "glimpses  into  heaven"  and  of 
who  was  seen  there,  and  who  was  not  seen  there,  to  the 
disparagement  of  members  of  other  shades  of  belief  and  prac- 
tice, and  to  proclaim  in  flippant  and  irreverent  tones  of 
familiarity  with  God,  his  spiritual  attitude  of  pharisaical  pride : 
"God,  I  thank  thee  that  I  am  not  as  other  men  are,  extortioners, 
unjust  adulterers,  or  even  as  this  publican."  Did  not  Christ  tell 
us,  "Judge  not  that  ye  be  not  judged"?  Are  we  not  told,  "He 
that  exalteth  himself  shall  be  abased"?  Did  not  our  Master  warn 
us  against  harsh  criticism  when  He  said :  "And  why  beholdest 
thou  the  mote  that  is  in  thy  brother's  eye,  but  considerest  not 
the  beam  that  is  in  thine  own  eye"  ?  Are  we  not  assured  that 
the  "meek"  shall  inherit  the  earth  and  that  "God  resisteth  the 
proud,  but  giveth  grace  to  the  humble"?    Not  every  one  that  saith, 


144 

"Lord,  Lord,  shall  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  but  he  that 
doeth  the  will  of  my  Father  which  is  in  heaven."  Neither  will 
people  be  heard  necessarily  for  their  much-speaking  or  for  their 
loud  professions.  "Many  will  say  unto  me  on  that  day,  Lord, 
Lord,  have  we  not  prophesied  in  thy  name,  and  in  thy  name  cast 
out  devils,  and  in  thy  name  done  many  wonderful  works?  And 
then  will  I  profess  unto  them,  I  never  knew  you ;  depart  from 
me,  ye  that  work  iniquity."  Matthew  7 :  22,  23.  Is  it  not 
possible  that  Christ  will  say  to  some  of  these  mistaken,  but 
over-confident  zealots  of  religion,  when  they  shall  come  to  Him 
for  approval,  saying:  "Lord,  Lord,  did  we  not  make  'loud 
professions'  in  Thy  name?  Did  we  not  make  long  public  prayers 
and  offer  much  self-laudatory  testimony  in  Thy  name?  Did 
we  not  speak  of  the  glories  of  heaven  and  of  its  membership 
limited  to  Thy  chosen  few  among  the  praying  saints  of  the  earth 
in  Thy  name  ?  And  did  we  not,  in  Thy  name,  extol  ourselves  as  the 
'Lord's  elect,'  and  condemn  the  'sheep'  not  of  our  fold  to  hopeless 
despair?"  I  say,  is  it  not  possible  that  Christ  will  say  to  some  of 
these :  "I  never  knew  you ;  depart  from  me,  ye  workers  of 
iniquity." 

One  of  the  first  requisites  of  the  "new  life"  is  Christian  meekness 
and  humility.  "Blessed  are  the  meek,"  not  the  proud,  or  boastful, 
or  self-confident.  "Take  my  yoke  upon  you,  and  learn  of  me:  for 
I  am  meek  and  lowly  in  heart."  Matthew  1 1  :  29.  Christ  himself 
was  meek  and  lowly  in  spirit  and  He  wants  His  followers  to 
learn  of  Him  in  this  respect,  that  they  may  inherit  the  kingdom. 
To  be  sure,  not  all  meekness  and  humbleness  of  mind  is  a  sign 
of  true  conversion.  But  the  absence  of  meekness  and  Christlike 
humility  is  most  assuredly  an  infallible  sign  of  spiritual  pride,  or 
of  carnal  self-satisfaction.  The  followers  of  the  meek  and  "lowly" 
Jesus  must  themselves,  in  their  own  words  and  deeds,  show  forth 
the  spirit  of  true  meekness  and  of  Christian  charity.  "Charity 
suffereth  long  and  is  kind ;  charity  vaunteth  not  itself,  is  not  easily 
puffed  up,  doth  not  behave  itself  unseemly,  seeketh  not  her  own, 
is  not  easily  provoked,  thinketh  no  evil." 

It  is  a  most  impressive  fact  that  Christ's  strongest  condem- 
nation   of    sinners    fell    not    upon    the    worldly,    the    careless    or 


145 

indifferent,  nor  upon  the  adulterers,  the  betrayers  and  the  profli- 
gates, but  upon  the  spiritual  pride  and  self-righteousness  of  the 
Pharisees.  For  the  worldly  and  the  abandoned  there  was  hope, 
because  they  realized  their  unworthiness.  For  the  self-satisfied 
Pharisees,  who  were  sufficient  unto  themselves,  there  was  little 
hope  of  spiritual  improvement,  because  they  lacked  the  neces- 
sary spiritual  hunger  and  the  spiritual  thirst,  without  which  they 
could  not  be  "filled."  Jesus  was  glad  to  receive  all  sorts  and 
conditions  of  men  that  He  might  minister  unto  them.  But  the 
Pharisees,  who  "loved  to  pray  standing  in  the  synagogues  and 
in  the  corners  of  the  streets,"  were  satisfied  with  their  spiritual 
states,  and  consequently  they  did  not  come  to  Christ  with  hungry 
souls  so  that  He  might  minister  unto  them  and  refresh  them 
spiritually.  They  were  absolutely  sure  of  their  moral  superiority. 
They  did  not  fail  to  talk  much  of  their  spiritual  attainments. 
They  loved  the  "uppermost  rooms"  at  religious  gatherings  and 
the  "chief  seats"  in  the  synagogues.  They  did  "all  their  works 
to  be  seen  of  men,"  and  for  a  pretense  "made  long  prayers"  in 
the  hearing  of  men,  thinking  that  they  would  be  "heard  for  their 
much-speaking."  Because  of  their  spiritual  pride  and  self- 
sufficiency,  Christ  was  unable  to  reach  them  or  to  minister  unto 
them  out  of  His  fulness.  And  hence  His  unmeasured  terms  of 
scathing  rebuke :  "Woe  unto  you  scribes  and  Pharisees, 
hypocrites."  And  it  is  this  spirit  of  self-sufficiency  and  of  moral 
superiority  which  makes  the  modern  representatives  of  the 
Pharisees  of  old  such  "hopeless"  cases  for  spiritual  improvement. 
It  is  their  self-sufficiency,  their  unteachableness,  their  self-com- 
placency which  smites  the  heart  of  Jesus  with  their  hopelessness 
to-day.  They  lack  the  "teachableness,"  the  open-mindedness,  the 
spiritual  humility  of  children,  so  necessary  for  membership  to 
Christ's  spiritual  tutelage.  And  well  might  it  be  said  of  these 
modern  Pharisees,  who  love  to  make  a  display  of  their  religion, 
and  who  are  constrained  to  stand  in  "the  chief  seats"  of  our 
modern  synagogues  and  to  pray:  "God,  I  thank  thee  that  I  am 
not  as  other  men  are,  or  even  as  these  'publicans,'  "  except  ye 
be  "converted"  from  your  spiritual  pride  and  self-satisfaction  and 
"become  as  little  children"  in  teachableness,  in  humility,  and  in 


146 

simplicity   of    faith,    "ye    shall    not    enter    into   the    kingdom    of 
Heaven." 

President  Hyde  has  this  to  say  on  the  pride  of  the  Pharisee, 
and  the  conceit  of  the  perfectionist :  "Of  all  the  monstrosities 
that  misdirected  and  shortsighted  spiritual  effort  has  produced, 
this  self-righteousness  of  a  loveless  legalism  is  the  most  repellent. 
People  of  this  type  commit,  perhaps,  few  overt  acts  of  flagrant 
indiscretion,  but  they  rise  to  no  lofty  heights  of  heroic  righteous- 
ness. They  manage  to  keep  their  precious  souls  just  out  of  the 
hell  of  social  reprobation  they  are  afraid  of;  but  they  never  come 
in  sight  of  the  shining  battlements  of  heaven.  They  may  not 
cheat  you ;  but  you  must  not  expect  them  to  make  a  costly  sacri- 
fice in  your  behalf.  They  may  not  get  drunk;  but  their  homes 
are  not  so  happy  that  their  children  and  neighbors  find  it  prefer- 
able to  the  saloon.  They  may  not  commit  adultery,  or  risk  the 
scandal  of  a  divorce ;  but  marriage  is  not  to  them  a  sacrament 
of  self-devotion.  They  may  not  tell  many  lies ;  but  they  seldom 
speak  the  truth  with  gentleness  or  refrain  from  peddling  scandal 
out  of  thoughtfulness  and  kindly  consideration.  They  may  not 
break  the  Sabbath ;  but  no  one  who  has  to  spend  it  with  them 
likes  to  see  the  dreadful  day  come  around.  They  may  not  swear 
themselves;  but  they  are  so  prim  and  punctilious  in  their  propriety,, 
that  they  make  the  people  who  see  them  want  to.  The  man  who 
fancies  he  has  kept  the  whole  law  of  God,  and  prides  himself  upon 
it,  merely  shows  how  incapable  he  is  of  appreciating  the  infinite 
breadth  of  service  and  depth  of  sympathy  the  real  keeping  of 
the  divine  law  would  involve." 

Verily,  too  much  confidence  in  one's  spiritual  attainments 
is  not  essential  to  true  Christian  experience.  On  the  contrary, 
too  great  positiveness  is  a  pretty  sure  indication  of  self-deception 
or  spiritual  pride.  Genuine  spiritual  excellence  leads  to  modesty 
and  humility  of  spirit.  The  sacrifices  of  God  are  a  broken  and 
a  contrite  heart.  The  earnest  seeker  after  God  does  indeed  rejoice 
that  God  has  done  so  much  for  him,  but  he  is  also  deeply  grieved 
over  the  fact  that  he  has  done  so  little  for  God.  The  true  penitent 
verily  knows  that  he  has  passed  from  death  unto  life,  and  that 
he  is  now  on  the  road  to  heaven  and  immortalitv,  but  he  also 


147 

realizes  most  keenly  that  his  progress  in  true  Christian  self-con- 
trol and  in  the  formation  of  a  Christlike  character  has  been  pain- 
fully slow.  He  is  made  extremely  happy  in  the  realization  of 
what  has  already  been  accomplished  in  his  spiritual  education ;  but 
he  is  also  profoundly  impressed  with  the  greatness  and  serious- 
ness of  the  task  still  to  be  accomplished.  A  true  knowledge  of 
the  greatness  of  God's  grace  in  his  redemption,  makes  the  honest 
believer  feel  like  saying  with  Paul :  "Thanks  be  to  God,  which 
giveth  us  the  victory  through  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ."  A  full 
realization  of  what  is  involved  in  "fighting  the  good  fight  of 
faith,"  makes  him  cry  out  with  the  apostle :  "O  wretched  man 
that  I  am,  who  shall  deliver  me  from  the  body  of  this  death."  An 
earnest,  sincere  disciple  of  Jesus  Christ  is  constrained  to  be  truly 
humble  and  distrustful  of  his  own  spiritual  worth  in  comparison 
with  the  holy  and  spotless  character  of  Jesus  Christ,  his  Example 
and  Leader  and  Guide.  And  hence  his  prayer  is  better  expressed 
in  the  spirit  and  words  of  the  publican:  "God,  be  merciful  to 
me  a  sinner,"  than  in  the  boastful  and  self-satisfied  utterance 
of  the  Pharisee :  "God,  I  thank  thee  that  I  am  not  as  other 
men  are,  or  even  as  this  publican." 

He  that  is  down  need  fear  no  fall, 

He  that  is  low  no  pride ; 
He  that  is  humble  ever  shall 

Have  God  to  be  his  Guide. 


IV*     What  is  Essential  in  Religious  Experience. 

t.     The  Right  Attitude  of  the  Will  is  Essential. 

As  in  ethics,  so  in  religion,  the  right  attitude  of  the  will  is  all- 
important.  The  undue  emphasis  placed  upon  the  feelings  and 
the  great  prominence  they  assume  in  emotional  conversion  has 
given  the  will  a  less  prominent  place  than  it  deserves  in  the 
sphere  of  religion.     In  all  other  human  relations  and  interests  we 


148 

ask  for  the  purpose  or  the  intention  underlying  an  act.  If  the 
intention  is  good,  we  say  the  act  is  a  good  act.  If  the  purpose 
is  sinister  or  the  intention  is  bad,  we  call  the  act  a  bad  act, 
however  strongly  it  may  flavor  of  the  spirit  of  charity.  In  courts 
of  law,  in  the  interpretation  of  the  fundamental  principles  which 
govern  conduct,  men  seek  to  get  at  the  purpose  or  intention  of  an 
act,  so  that  they  may  judge  properly  of  its  inherent  moral  value. 
Not  the  act  so  much  as  the  purpose  back  of  it  determines  the 
guilt  or  innocence  of  an  accused  man  in  a  court  of  law  or  before 
the  bar  of  public  opinion.  We  are  applying  this  principle  con- 
tinually in  our  attempts  to  judge  the  conduct  of  our  fellow-men. 
We  always  seek  for  the  intention.  We  make  ample  allowances 
for  blundering  actions,  provided  the  intention  was  good.  We 
judge  harshly  and  severely  the  seemingly  correct  conduct  of  a 
man  whose  principles  and  purposes  of  life  are  known  to  be  false 
and  selfish.  Why  should  not  the  same  standards  obtain  in  the 
religious  sphere  of  life? 

What  is  sin?  What  is  goodness?  What  makes  us  culpable 
before  God  or  acceptable  in  His  sight  ?  Holiness  is  in  the  heart,  in 
the  consciously  right  attitude  towards  God  and  man,  in  the  "be- 
nevolent will,"  as  Fairchild  would  say.  "Sin  is  the  transgression 
of  the  law."  But  this  implies  purpose  or  intention  or  else  it  could 
not  be  voluntary  transgression.  "To  him  that  knoweth  to  do 
good  and  doeth  it  not,  to  him  it  is  sin."  The  knowing  to  do  a 
right  thing  and  refusing  to  do  it  involves  an  attitude  of  the 
will.  It  is  sin,  a  sin  of  omission.  There  are  sins  of  omission 
and  sins  of  commission,  but  they  have  the  same  source  in  the 
human  will.  The  prodigal's  sin  consisted  in  his  deliberate  choice 
to  "ask  for  the  goods"  that  did  not  belong  to  him.  His  sal- 
vation dawned  when  he  came  to  himself  and  said,  "I  will  arise." 
Here  was  the  turning  point.  When  he  pulled  himself  together 
and  gathered  up  the  tattered  fragments  of  his  moral  nature  to- 
gether in  one  supreme  resolution  of  his  sovereign  will,  involved 
in  the  words :  "I  will  arise  and  go  to  my  father  and  I  will 
say,  father  I  have  sinned,"  then  the  all-important  act  of  his 
redemption  was  done,  so  far  as  his  part  of  the  transaction  was 
concerned.     The  rest  all  followed  as  a  logical  outcome  of  his  new 


149 

attitude,  which  crystallized  in  the  critical  moment  in  which,  under 
the  influence  of  God's  spirit,  he  asserted  his  sovereign  right  of 
benevolent  choice  and  resolved  henceforth  to  surrender  his  will 
to  the  will  of  his  heavenly  Father.  And  this  is  invariably  the 
view  of  the  Bible.     And  it  is  preeminently  the  view  of  Jesus. 

It  is  a  striking  fact  that  all  the  conditions  laid  down  by  our 
Master  for  entrance  into  His  kingdom  imply  a  distinct  and  unmis- 
takable element  of  conscious  will-power.  When  the  jailer  at 
Philippi  asked  Paul  that  all-important  question,  "What  must  I 
do  to  be  saved,"  the  reply  was  :  "Believe  on  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ 
and  thou  shalt  be  saved."  So  Jesus  told  his  disciples :  "He  that 
helieveth  on  the  Son  hath  everlasting  life;  he  that  believeth  not 
the  Son  shall  not  see  life."  John  3 :  36.  Faith  in  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ  is  here  made  the  one  condition  of  salvation.  Jesus 
addressed  the  woman,  who  came  that  she  might  but  touch  the 
"hem  of  his  garment"  and  be  cured,  as  follows :  "Daughter,  be 
of  good  cheer,  thy  faith  hath  made  thee  whole."  Matthew  9 :  22. 
And  Paul  tells  the  Romans :  "A  man  is  justified  by  faith."  And 
again :  "Ye  are  the  children  of  God  by  faith  in  Christ  Jesus." 
Galatians  3 :  26.  The  words  "faith"  and  "believe"  occur  more 
frequently  in  the  Bible,  as  necessary  conditions  of  heart  for  salva- 
tion, than  any  other  expressions  which  can  be  found.  It  is 
"through  faith"  in  Christ  Jesus  that  we  are  saved.  And  this 
"saving  faith"  implies  an  active  outreaching  of  the  human  heart, 
through  a  conscious  effort  on  the  part  of  the  soul  towards  the 
object  of  its  faith,  namely,  Jesus  Christ  and  His  redeeming  love. 
The  most  prominent  element  in  the  "saving  faith"  mentioned  in 
the  Bible  is  that  of  a  conscious,  voluntary  movement  of  the  human 
will  towards  something  outside  of  itself.  A  living  faith  is  an 
active  faith,  not  a  passive  one ;  a  voluntary  outgoing  of  the  soul, 
not  a  passive  state  of  collapse  and  inefficiency.  And  hence, 
the  faith  which  maketh  whole,  which  moves  men's  lives  and  in- 
fluences them  powerfully  for  good  is  a  positive,  deliberate  attitude 
of  the  human  will  in  its  reaching  out  towards  the  Divine  for 
strength  and  help.  The  same  element  of  voluntary  attitude  is  im- 
plied in  all  the  other  terms  of  Scripture  used  for  conversion,  for 
regeneration  or  for  the  conditions  of  the  new  life.     To  "cease 


ISO 

to  do  evil"  and  "learn  to  do  well,"  to  "put  off  the  old  man"  and 
to  "put  on  the  new  man,"  to  "arise"  and  go  to  the  Father,  to  "fol- 
low" Jesus  in  a  life  of  love  and  service,  to  "believe,"  to  "trust," 
to  "give"  one's  heart  in  self-surrender,  to  "love"  the  Lord  our 
God  with  all  our  hearts  and  our  neighbors  as  ourselves,  to 
"choose"  the  better  part,  to  "do"  the  will  of  God,  to  "hunger  and 
thirst"  after  righteousness,  to  be  "meek"  and  "lowly  in  spirit," 
to  "have  the  mind"  of  the  Master,  to  "sit"  at  the  feet  of  Jesus, 
to  "accept"  the  invitation  to  the  marriage  feast,  to  "build"  one's 
house  upon  the  rock,  these  and  similar  expressions  imply  a  deliber- 
ate and  positive  attitude  of  the  will  in  conscious  choice  and  active 
effort.  It  is  an  impressive  fact  to  note  that  not  a  single  condition 
for  the  spiritual  life  mentioned  in  the  Bible  is  in  terms  of  feeling 
or  emotion,  but  always  and  invariably  in  terms  of  conscious,  self- 
directing,  voluntary  effort  on  the  part  of  the  sovereign  will  towards 
righteous  and  benevolent  ends.  This  is  strikingly  illustrated  in  the 
teaching  and  example  of  our  Master  himself,  who  came  to  do  the 
"will  of  God"  and  who  found  His  highest  expression  of  obedience 
and  submission  in  His  prayer,  "Not  my  will  but  Thine,  be  done." 
Jesus  appeals  to  the  intellect  and  to  the  will.  It  was  His 
knowledge  of  God  which  gave  Him  power-tranquility,  "He 
that  knoweth  the  Son  knoweth  the  Father."  "And  this  is  life 
everlasting  to  know  thee  as  the  only  true  God  and  Jesus  Girist 
whom  thou  hast  sent  into  the  world,"  says  Jesus,  in  John  17:3. 
He  expects  from  men  a  moral  initiative.  "Follow  me,"  He  says. 
"Sell  all  that  thou  hast  and  follow  me."  "Whosoever  shall  do 
the  will  of  God,  the  same  is  my  brother  and  sister  and  mother." 
Mark  3 :  35.  This  is  a  matter  of  choice.  "Be  it  unto  thee  even 
as  thou  wilt."  And  so  Jesus  says  about  himself :  "Not  my  will 
but  thine,  be  done."  "My  meat  is  to  do  the  will  of  Him  that 
sent  me."  John  4 :  34.  The  dominant  factor  both  in  his  ex- 
perience and  in  his  teaching  is  not  intellectual  achievement  or 
emotional  exaltation,  but  ethical  decision.  So  again  Jesus  says : 
"He  that  willeth  to  do  the  will  shall  know  of  the  doctrine  whether 
it  be  of  God  or  whether  I  speak  of  myself."  John  7:  17.  In 
the  Sermon  on  the  Mount,  Jesus  makes  the  doing  of  his  will, 
not  the  mere  profession,  "Lord.  Lord,"  the  test  of  discipleship : 


151 

"Not  every  one  that  saith  unto  me,  Lord,  Lord,  shall  enter  into 
the  kingdom  of  heaven,  but  he  that  doeth  the  will  of  my  Father 
which  is  in  heaven."  Matthew  5:21.  And  in  Revelation  we 
have  the  sweeping  invitation :  "Whosoever  will  may  come  and 
take  the  water  of  life  freely."  Revelation  22:17.  The  em- 
phasis is  on  the  willingness  to  yield  obedience  and  to  do  the  will 
of  God.  "First  obedience,  then  insight;  first  decision,  then  pre- 
cision ;  first  the  following  of  Jesus,  then  later  the  understand- 
ing of  Him,  such  is  the  sequence  of  Christian  experience,"  as 
Prof.  Peabody  so  well  says.  "Among  the  baffling  truths,  which 
invite  and  defy  reason  and  the  tides  of  feeling  which  rise  only  to 
fall,  the  beginnings  of  Christian  experience  are,  according  to  the 
teaching  of  Jesus,  in  the  conversion  of  the  will. 

"Our  wills  are  ours,  we  know  not  how. 
Our  wills  are  ours  to  make  them  Thine." 

It  is  disheartening  to  see  the  essential  condition  for  disciple- 
ship  expressed  so  often  and  so  persistently  in  terms  of  intellectual 
belief  or  of  emotional  states  or  of  simple  acts  or  deeds,  whereas 
Jesus  himself  gave  abundant  recognition  to  the  supremacy  of  the 
will.  "Systems  of  theology  have  been  devised  in  which  every 
virtue  is  ascribed  to  God  except  that  of  simple  goodness,  and 
every  hope  offered  to  men  except  that  of  moral  choice."  Too 
often  the  attitude  of  the  Christian  leaders  has  been  that  "dogma 
is  more  than  obedience  and  feeling  more  than  righteousness." 
Christian  discipleship  begins  where  all  moral  excellence  begins, 
in  the  dedication  of  the  will  to  God.  "The  first  demand  of  Jesus 
is  not  for  orthodoxy  or  ecstasy,  but  for  morality."  Seek  first 
the  kingdom  of  God.  This  is  the  first  article  of  Christian  prac- 
tice. The  first  step  in  the  process  of  discipleship  is  in  the  reso- 
lution to  do  the  will  of  God. 

"One  ship  drives  east  and  the  other  drives  west 

With  the  self-same  winds  that  blow ; 
'Tis  the  set  of  the  sails  and  not  the  gales, 

W^hich  tells  us  the  wav  thev  go. 


152 

Like  the  winds  of  the  sea  are  the  ways  of  fate 

As  we  voyage  along  through  life ; 
'Tis  the  set  of  the  soul  that  decides  its  goal 

And  not  the  calm  or  the  strife." 

And  so  it  is  "the  set  of  the  will"  that  determines  not  only  the 
course  of  the  ship  but  also  the  character  of  the  haven  reached 
at  last.  He  who  sets  his  will  resolutely  and  supremely  for  the 
moral  haven  desired  will  ultimately  reach  the  goal,  whatever 
the  currents  may  be  or  however  the  gales  may  blow.  The  moral 
decision  is  the  first  and  most  important  and  all-essential  step  in 
the  process  of  conversion.  Whatever  the  feelings  may  be  before 
the  supreme  moment  of  decision  or  whatever  the  intellectual 
attitude,  whatever  divine  influences  may  have  been  at  work  or 
conflicting  personal  motives  may  have  been  at  war  in  the  soul, 
the  sovereign  act  of  conversion  culminates  in  conscious,  deliberate 
and  unreserved  dedication  of  the  will  to  God  in  self-surrender. 
"The  moral  decision  may  be  accompanied  by  a  clarifying  thought 
or  by  an  emotional  surprise  or  by  both."  In  fact,  intense  reli- 
gious emotion  and  tumultuous  ebullitions  of  feeling  may  ac- 
company the  fateful  decision.  But  they  are  not  essential.  The 
vessel  of  Christian  character  has  not  indeed  reached  its  port 
through  the  initial  decision  of  the  will  for  Christ ;  but  the  voyage 
is  begun  and  by  one  sharp  decisive  impulse  of  the  will,  the  vessel 
has  been  launched  and  received  momentum  and  direction  towards 
its  final  goal.  The  continual  "set  of  the  sail"  will  be  necessary 
throughout  the  voyage,  whatever  the  winds  of  feeling  that  blow 
or  the  currents  of  thought  that  may  run  counter  and  impede 
the  progress.  May  we  not  all  pray  the  prayer  of  the  poet  and 
dedicate  our  wills  to  God's  service? 

Laid  on  Thine  altar,  O  my  Lord  divine, 
Accept  my  will  this  day  for  Jesus'  sake ; 

I  have  no  jewels  to  adorn  Thy  shrine — 
Nor  any  world-proud  sacrifice  to  make ; 

But  here  I  bring,  within  my  trembling  hand. 
This  will  of  mine — a  thing  that  seemeth  small. 


153 

And  Thou  alone,  O  God,  canst  understand 

How,  when  I  yield  Thee  this,  I  yield  mine  all ! 
Hidden  therein,  Thy  searching  gaze  can  see 

Struggles  of  passion — visions  of  delight — 
All  that  I  love,  and  am,  and  fain  would  be. 

Deep  loves,  fond  hopes,  and  longings  infinite. 
It  has  been  wet  with  tears^  and  dimmed  with  sighs. 

Clenched  in  my  grasp,  till  beauty  hath  it  none — 
Now,  from  Thy  footstool  where  it  vanquished  lies. 

The  prayer  ascendeth,  "May  Thy  will  be  done." 
Take  it,  O  Father,  ere  my  courage  fail. 

And  merge  it  so  in  Thine  own  will,  that  e'en 
If,  in  some  desperate  hour,  my  cries  prevail, 

And  Thou  give  back  my  will,  it  may  have  been 
So  changed,  so  purified,  so  fair  have  grown, 

So  one  with  Thee,  so  filled  with  peace  divine, 
I  may  not  see,  nor  know  it  as  my  own. 

But  gaining  back  my  will,  may  find  it  Thine. 


2.     A  Reasonable  Degree  of  Christian  Assurance. 

With  a  right  moral  attitude  there  comes  a  reasonable  degree 
of  Christian  certainty  and  assurance.  The  witness  of  the  spirit 
to  our  inner  states  will  not  be  in  the  amount  of  feeling  we  may 
have  in  the  matter,  but  in  the  blessed  consciousness  that  we  have 
given  ourselves  to  God  for  service.  We  can  surely  know  our 
own  conscious  attitude.  We  know,  for  instance,  whether  we  love 
our  parents.  This  love  to  parents  may  be  accompanied  by  a 
certain  amount  of  pleasurable  emotion.  But  the  important  con- 
sideration is  not  our  states  of  feeling  in  the  matter,  but  our  con- 
scious attitude  of  obedience  and  filial  regard.  Whether  our 
regard  for  our  parents  is  highly  tinged  with  lively  emotion 
or  is  simply  a  conscious  disposition  on  our  part  to  render  them 
all  the  faithful  service  and  the  kind  and  loving  consideration 
we  can  because  they  are  our  parents  and  because  we  owe  them 
loving  obedience  and   service,  matters  not.      The  chief  and   all- 


154 

important  thing  is  that  we  have  this  conscious  attitude  of  fiUal 
regard  which  expresses  itself  in  obedient,  loving,  ungrudging 
service.  And  this  we  can  know.  We  know  absolutely  whether 
we  have  the  right  attitude  towards  our  parents  or  not,  whether 
we  consciously  and  intentionally  offer  them  the  full  measure  of 
filial  obedience  and  of  loyal  service  which  we  owe  them  in  return 
for  what  they  are  and  for  what  they  have  done  for  us.  In 
like  manner  we  may  know  our  attitude  towards  our  heavenly 
Father.  Whether  we  have  come  with  much  fear  and  trembling, 
or  whether  we  have  come  in  confidence  and  assurance,  is  a  small 
matter.  The  question  is,  have  we  come?  And  we  most  as- 
suredly know  whether  we  have  come  to  the  Father  and  we  know 
whether  we  have  surrendered  our  wills  to  His  will,  and  we  know 
whether  we  have  rendered  Him  the  full  measure  of  obedience 
and  of  loving  service  which  we  owe  Him  for  what  He  is  and 
for  what  He  has  done  for  us.  And  we  may  know  to  a 
certainty,  and  beyond  the  question  of  a  doubt,  whether  our  sur- 
render to  Him  has  been  complete  or  only  partial,  and  whether 
our  inward  conscious  pledge  of  obedience  and  loyalty  to  His 
will  was  made  in  good  faith  and  without  any  reservation,  fully, 
unreservedly,  unconditionally.  I  say,  we  may  and  can  know  all 
these  things.  It  is  a  matter  of  certain  knowledge,  for  the  mind 
always  knows  its  own  conscious  states  and  acts. 

When  the  young  man  who  was  blind  from  his  youth  up  and 
who  was  cured  of  his  blindness  by  Jesus,  as  recorded  in  the 
ninth  chapter  of  John,  was  asked  what  "he  thought  of  Jesus," 
he  replied  by  saying:  "Whether  he  (Jesus)  be  a  sinner  or  not, 
I  know  not.  One  thing  I  know,  that  whereas  I  was  blind,  now 
I  see."  This  was  the  test.  He  had  been  blind,  now  he  could 
see.  That  was  an  evident  fact  of  which  he  was  certain.  He 
knew  it.  And  so  we  know  whether  our  eyes  have  been  opened 
spiritually  and  whether  we  can  see  God  in  all  His  loveliness.  John 
tells  us  that  "We  know  we  have  passed  from  death  unto  life 
because  we  love  the  brethren."  I  John  3  :  14.  And  again :  "And 
hereby  we  know  that  he  abideth  in  us  because  we  love  the  breth- 
ren." I  John  3 :  14.  And  still  once  again  John  writes :  "And 
hereby  we  know  that  he  abideth  in  us,  by  the  spirit  which  he 


155 

has  given  us."  I  John  3 :  24.  John  tells  his  hearers  that  they 
ma}'  know  God's  presence  by  the  spirit  manifested  in  their  lives 
and  by  their  conscious  attitude  of  love  and  obedience  towards 
God  and  towards  the  brethren.  According  to  John,  we  may  know 
positively  not  only  that  our  attitude  to  God  is  right,  but  we 
may  know  God's  presence  within  us  and  the  approval  of  His 
favor  upon  us  by  the  consciousness  of  the  spirit  of  love  towards 
the  brethren.  We  may  know  our  spiritual  states  in  regenera- 
tion, not  only  in  being  conscious  of  a  right  attitude  towards  God, 
but  also  in  the  consciousness  of  a  benevolent  attitude  towards 
our  fellow-men  in  "love  to  the  brethren."  A  consciousness  of 
"love  to  the  brethren"  is,  therefore,  also  proof  positive  of  a  right 
personal  relation  to  God,  because  real  genuine  "love  to  the 
brethren"  comes  only  from  a  supreme  love  to  God.  And  we 
surely  know  whether  we  have  a  disinterested  and  unselfish  regard 
for  "our  brethren."  "And  this  is  life  everlasting,  to  know  Thee 
as  the  only  true  God  and  Jesus  Christ  whom  Thou  didst  send." 
John  17:3.  These  words  of  Jesus  assume  a  true  knowledge  of 
God  the  Father,  and  of  Jesus  the  Son  as  evidence  of  salvation. 
To  know  the  love  and  mercy  of  God  in  all  its  fulness  and  to 
know  ourselves  as  voluntarily  and  deliberately  trusting  in  and 
relying  upon  that  love,  is  salvation.  This  knowledge  requires 
no  accompanying  states  of  feeling,  no  audible  witness  of  the 
spirit.  It  is  the  sort  of  inner  knowledge  which  maketh  not 
ashamed  and  which  Paul  had  when  he  wrote  to  Timothy :  "I 
know  whom  I  have  believed  and  am  persuaded  that  he  is  able 
to  keep  that  which  I  have  committed  unto  him  against  that  day." 
II  Timothy  i  :  12. 

But  some  trembling,  doubting  soul  may  say :  "I  want  to  know 
positively  that  I  am  saved,  and  how  can  I  know  conclusively 
unless  I  can  feel  it  powerfully  in  my  heart  and  have  striking 
proof  of  it  in  the  promised  'witness  of  the  spirit'  in  my  soul."  This 
expectation  of  a  seemingly  supernatural  attestation  of  the  spirit 
is  all  wrong.  There  is  absolutely  no  such  requirement  given 
in  Scripture  and  no  sanction  in  Christian  experience  for  such  ex- 
pectation. It  is  true  that  the  witness  of  the  spirit  is  promised, 
but  this  does  not  necessarily  nor  usually  come  with  demonstration 


156 

of  power.  A  witness  in  court  is  not  expected  to  shout  his  testi- 
mony in  the  feverish  language  of  excitement.  A  normal  wit- 
nessing is  in  calmness  of  spirit  and  with  composure  of  manner. 
As  has  been  said  before,  God  does  not  love  confusion.  His 
spirit  may  be  most  clearly  and  distinctly  perceived  in  quickening 
and  energizing  the  normal  functions  of  the  soul  in  thought  and 
will  and  in  the  deeper,  calmer  states  of  subdued  and  chastened 
emotion.  Not  in  the  earthquake  nor  in  the  storm,  nor  in  the 
fire  but  in  the  "still  small  voice,"  did  Elijah  discover  the  presence 
of  God.  "Not  by  might,  nor  by  power,  but  by  my  spirit,  saith 
the  Lord."  No.  No.  If  we  have  an  earnest  and  sincere  desire 
to  abstain  from  evil  and  to  cleave  to  that  which  is  good,  if  we  have 
resolved  to  commit  ourselves  to  our  loving  heavenly  Father's  care 
and  keeping,  if  we  have  fully  and  freely  and  unreservedly  dedi- 
cated ourselves  to  God  for  unselfish  service  in  His  kingdom;  and 
if  we  have  consciously  and  knowingly  resolved  to  surrender  our 
wayward  wills  to  God's  sweet  will  without  any  reservation  what- 
soever, then  we  may  rest  assured.  And  all  this  we  can  most 
decidedly  know,  and,  knowing,  rest  assured  and  contented.  With 
such  a  moral  decision  there  always  comes  some  sense  of  inner 
"harmony.  And  there  may  come  rolling  in  upon  the  soul  feelings 
of  tumultuous  joy  following  the  supreme  moment  of  self-surrender 
or  of  spiritual  reconstruction.  But  these  lofty  states  of  feeling  are 
not  to  be  sought  after  as  "signs"  and  "wonders,"  for  the  seeking 
after  "signs"  and  "wonders"  is  what  Jesus  condemned  in  the  Jews. 
In  fact,  there  is  great  moral  danger  in  the  matter  of  expect- 
ing some  striking  kind  of  emotional  experience  during  conver- 
sion. Many  a  fearful  heart  has  suffered  untold  agony  because  of 
false  and  unwarranted  expectations  of  a  supernatural  witness 
of  the  spirit  in  conversion.  This  is  strikingly  illustrated  by  the 
testimony  of  one  of  Professor  Coe's  respondents.  It  is  as  fol- 
lows :  "They  told  me  to  read  the  Bible  and  I  read  it.  They 
told  me  to  pray,  and  I  prayed.  They  said,  'now  all  you  need  to 
do  is  to  go  to  the  'mourner's  bench,'  and  ask  God  to  forgive 
you,  and  be  blessed.'  They  told  me  I  would  know  the  very 
instant  that  He  saved  me,  and  that  I  would  know  it  just  as 
•definitely  as  I  knew  anything.     I  went  forward  night  after  night, 


157 

"expecting  a  sudden  reversal  of  my  whole  being.  The  meetings 
closed.  I  had  no  change,  no  experience."  This  same  person 
tried  it  again  during  a  subsequent  season  of  special  services  with 
the  same  unsatisfactory  results,  until  he  was  almost  driven  to 
distraction  and  despair.  This  is  a  typical  case.  This  young  man 
was  honest  with  himself.  He  could  not  "feel"  any  such  reversal 
of  his  entire  being  as  he  was  led  to  believe  he  could,  because  he 
lacked  the  characteristic  emotional  temperament.  Neither  could 
he  deceive  himself  into  believing  that  he  had  really  experienced 
a  striking  conversion  when,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  he  had  not. 
He  was  too  honest  with  himself.  And  the  consequence  was  that 
for  years  this  honest  seeker  after  God  was  kept  in  the  darkness 
of  moral  despair  through  no  fault  of  his  own,  until  he  was  finally 
led  to  see  that  all  that  was  required  of  him  was  obedience  to 
the  will  of  God  and  faith  in  His  love  and  mercy.  After  he 
stopped  seeking  for  "signs"  and  "wonders"  in  a  striking  con- 
version, and  simply  yielded  his  heart  to  God  in  loving  obedience, 
he  found  peace  and  assurance. 

Another  testimony  runs  thus:  "I  have  had  a  long  and  bitter 
experience  because  of  the  language  used  by  people  at  revival 
meetings.  I  have  striven  to  come  into  immediate  communion 
with  God,  to  have  a  vivid  sense  of  His  presence,  but  that  has 
never  been."  Professor  Coe  tells  us  of  young  people  from 
among  his  correspondents  who  sought  a  special  kind  of  ex- 
perience in  conversion  for  twelve  years,  but  never  found  it.  They 
were  kept  in  moral  uncertainty  and  in  spiritual  anguish  for 
years  because  of  foolish  and  unscriptural  requirements  imposed 
upon  them,  which  they  were  not  able  honestly  to  meet  on  account 
of  the  lack  of  the  necessary  emotional  temperament,  requisite 
for  brilliant  religious  experiences.  I  have  known,  myself,  of 
people  who  were  made  extremely  unhappy  and  miserable  for 
years  because  they  foolishly,  but  honestly  and  sincerely,  sought 
through  more  than  one  series  of  special  revival  services,  some 
striking  evidence  of  the  Holy  Spirit's  witness  in  the  feelings,  but 
which  failed  to  come  either  because  of  a  lack  of  the  necessary 
emotional  temperament  or  because  of  too  honest  and  con- 
scientious a  heart  to  allow  deception  in  the  matter. 


158 

That  most  of  these  honest  souls  eventually  find  peace  and 
joy  through  the  "better  way"  of  simple  faith  and  childlike  trust 
in  God's  precious  promises  does  not  alter  the  fact  that  such  con- 
ceptions of  conversion  are  responsible  for  an  immense  amount 
of  unnecessary  and  often  cruel  spiritual  suffering  on  the  part 
of  young  and  inexperienced  seekers  after  God.  Not  infrequently 
these  unsuccessful  seekers  after  an  arbitrary  and  abnormal 
experience  in  conversion  are  driven  to  agnosticism  and  infidelity. 
Others  again  may  simply  grow  cold  and  indifferent  to  all 
religious  influences  and  conclude  that  all  religious  experience  is 
a  humbug  and  a  delusion.  And  in  more  than  one  instance,  some 
earnest  seeker  after  "signs"  and  "wonders"  in  conversion  has 
been  so  wrought  up  by  religious  excitement  and  so  deeply 
grieved  and  depressed  by  a  fruitless  search  after  some  promised 
experience  of  a  striking  conversion,  that  the  result  was  either 
religious  melancholy  or  violent  religious  insanity.  Many  a 
delicate,  sensitive  soul  has  been  driven  to  hopeless  insanity  or 
to  an  early  grave  by  reason  of  the  cruel  spiritual  tortures  inflicted 
because  of  extreme  views  of  conversion  foolishly  and  unwisely 
applied  without  reason  or  judgment.  What  shall  a  person  think 
of  a  conception  of  conversion  put  into  practice  which  requires, 
on  the  part  of  the  earnest  seeker  after  God,  a  protracted  period 
of  spiritual  agony  and  unwholesome  religious  excitement  be- 
fore he  may  be  permitted  to  taste  of  the  joy  of  forgiveness?  It 
is  a  reflection  upon  God's  infinite  love  and  mercy  to  claim  that 
the  courts  of  heaven  must  first  be  stormed  by  a  season  of  agoniz- 
ing prayer  and  religious  frenzy  before  the  coveted  blessing  is 
permitted  to  come.  God  is  infinitely  more  willing  to  give  than 
we  are  able  to  ask  or  receive.  The  stubborn  will  must  be  broken. 
The  disobedient  and  wilful  soul  must  yield  and  run  into  the 
loving  arms  of  a  merciful  Heavenly  Father,  and  then  all  is  over. 
To  seek  a  special  experience  of  emotional  conversion  is  to  seek 
what  God  does  not  require,  and  what  human  nature  may  not 
always  be  capable  of.  To  insist  that  every  seeker  after  God  shall 
work  himself  up  to  a  certain  pitch  of  religious  frenzy  that  he 
may  have  a  vivid  realization  of  the  "witness  of  the  spirit"  with 
power,  before  he  may  be  permitted  to  consider  himself  a  member 


159 

of  God's  spiritual  household  is  "to  bind  heavy  burdens  and 
grievous  to  be  borne  and  lay  them  upon  men's  shoulders." 
What  self-torture,  agony  and  spiritual  suffering  might  not  be 
avoided,  and  what  days  and  weeks  and  even  years  of  moral 
uncertainty  and  hopeless  despair  might  not  be  prevented  if  ear- 
nest seekers  after  salvation  would  only  come  to  God  in  sincerity 
and  in  truth,  and  yield  their  hearts  and  lives  to  His  service  and 
trust  His  infinite  goodness  for  forgiveness  and  pardon  without 
any  reference  to  states  of  feeling  to  be  expected  or  religious  emo- 
tions to  be  enjoyed.  John  tells  us  in  his  Gospel:  "To  as  many 
as  received  Him,  to  them  gave  He  the  power  (or  the  authority 
or  the  right)  to  become  the  sons  of  God,  to  as  many  as  believed 
in  His  Name."  This  is  a  simple  transaction.  If  the  sinner  does 
his  part,  God  will  most  assuredly  do  His  part.  Whoever  believes 
with  all  his  heart  in  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ,  has  the  right  to 
call  himself  a  child  of  God.  Nothing  more  is  required.  Noth- 
ing extremely  difficult  and  unreasonable  is  asked  of  us.  No 
verification  is  necessary.  If  we  take  Jesus  Christ  into  our  lives, 
and  allow  Him  to  rule  our  spirits  and  to  fashion  our  ideals  and 
purposes,  then  we  may,  with  confidence  and  assurance,  call  our- 
selves His  disciples  without  any  further  proof  or  testimony. 

3.     The  Fruits  of  the  Spirit  arc  All-essential. 

The  end  of  all  religious  life  and  all  religious  activity  must  be 
the  formation  of  Christian  character.  The  best  test  of  conversion, 
therefore,  and  of  Christian  growth  and  development  must  ulti- 
mately be  in  the  spirit  and  character  of  the  lives  thus  influenced. 
Neither  conversion  nor  growth  are  the  ends,  but  character  and 
service.  Conversion  is  only  the  beginning  and  Christian  experi- 
ence only  the  incidents  or  accompanying  states  of  the  process 
Avhich  shall  issue  in  the  ripened  fruit  of  a  Christlike  character. 
Jesus  told  his  disciples :  "By  their  fruits  ye  shall  know  them." 
A  good  tree  cannot  bring  forth  evil  fruit,  neither  can  a  cor- 
rupt tree  bring  forth  good  fruit.  If  the  foundations  are  well  laid 
and  the  processes  of  growth  and  development  are  wholesome  and 
sound,  then  we  may  look  for  the  proper  fruits  of  Christian 
II 


i6o 

charity.  If  the  planting  has  been  well  done  and  the  conditions 
of  growth  have  been  favorable,  the  fruits  must  begin  to  appear 
in  their  various  manifestations.  Whatever  the  kind  of  conver- 
sion may  have  been  or  whatever  the  character  of  Christian  ex- 
perience, if  the  requisite  fruits  of  the  spirit  are  lacking,  then  there 
must  be  something  radically  wrong.  "A  good  tree  cannot  bring 
forth  evil  fruit."  A  genuine  spiritual  life,  whatever  the  experience 
in  conversion  may  have  been,  will  show  itself  in  many  and  un- 
mistakable ways  by  its  "fruits"  of  love  and  service. 

Jesus  tells  us  in  John  15:  "Herein  is  my  Father  glorified 
that  ye  bear  much  fruit.  So  shall  ye  be  my  disciples."  John 
15:8.  And  again:  "Ye  have  not  chosen  me  but  I  have  chosen 
you  and  ordained  you,  that  ye  should  go  and  bring  forth  fruit 
and  that  your  fruit  should  remain."  John  15:15.  The  object 
and  end  of  discipleship  is  fruit.  To  this  end  Jesus  has  called  and 
ordained  his  disciples.  Just  as  the  vine-dresser  has  planted  and 
cultivated  his  vineyard  that  he  might  have  fruit,  and  just  as  the 
"sower"  went  forth  to  sow  that  his  seed  might  fall  upon  good 
ground  and  bring  forth  fruit  as  a  reward  for  his  toil,  so  Christ 
himself  has  planted  His  spiritual  vineyard  and  sowed  His  spiritual 
seed  that  He  might  have  the  fruits  of  Christian  love  and  Christian 
character.  He  puts  forth  labor  upon  His  spiritual  vineyard  that 
it  may  bring  forth  more  fruit.  "Every  branch  in  me  that  beareth 
not  fruit  he  taketh  away ;  and  every  branch  that  beareth  fruit 
he  purgeth  it  that  it  may  bring  forth  more  fruit."  John  15:2, 
Paul  uses  the  same  language  in  writing  to  the  Romans :  "Now 
I  would  not  have  you  ignorant,  brethren,  that  oftentimes  I  pur- 
posed to  come  unto  you,  that  I  might  have  some  fruit  among 
you  also,  even  as  among  other  Gentiles."  Romans  1:13.  And 
again  :  "The  Gospel  bringeth  forth  fruit  in  you."  Colossians  i  :  6. 
And  again :  "That  we  should  bring  forth  fruit  to  God."  Romans 
7 : 4.  Paul  also  desires  an  increase  of  fruit  in  his  followers : 
"Now  he  that  ministereth  seed  to  the  sower  both  minister  bread 
for  your  food  and  multiply  your  seed  sown  and  increase  the 
fruits  of  your  righteousness."     H  Corinthians  9:10. 

The  character  of  the  fruit  of  the  spiritual  life  is  beautifully 
expressed  by  Paul  as  follows :    "The  fruit  of  the  spirit  is  love, 


i6i 

joy,  peace,  longsuffering,  kindness,  goodness,  faithfulness,  meek- 
ness, self-control.  Against  such  there  is  no  law."  Galatians  5  :  22. 
This  surely  is  pretty  comprehensive  and  reaches  down  into  the 
mainsprings  of  life,  the  heart  of  love,  and  up  and  out  into  the 
manifestations  of  life  as  revealed  in  acts  of  self-control,  meek- 
ness, gentleness  of  spirit,  kindness  of  treatment  to  our  fellow- 
men,  and  faithfulness  in  our  relations  to  both  God  and  man.  A 
conversion  that  is  capable  of  producing  such  fruit  must  be  con- 
sidered a  success,  whether  by  a  radical  change  or  through  gradual 
growth  and  development.  Jesus  came  into  the  world  that  men 
might  have  life  and  that  they  might  have  it  more  abundantly. 
Spiritual  life  as  it  is  found  in  the  life  and  character  of  Christ 
Jesus  is  an  essential  fruit  of  the  spirit.  Those  that  have  the  Son 
have  this  life.  "I  am  the  way,  the  truth,  and  the  life."  "And 
ye  will  not  come  to  me  that  ye  might  have  life."  John  5 :  49. 
Contact  and  communion  with  Jesus,  our  Master,  bring  us  the 
spiritual  life.  And  this  must  be  a  living  contact  to  be  vital, 
for  the  same  reason  that  the  branch  must  remain  in  the  vine  so 
as  to  be  fruitful.  Living  relationship  with  the  source  of  spiritual 
life  is  the  requisite  for  fruitfulness.  "As  the  branch  cannot  bear 
fruit  of  itself  except  it  abide  in  the  vine ;  no  more  can  ye  except 
ye  abide  in  me."  John  15:4.  The  condition  of  spiritual  fruit- 
fulness  is  a  vital  connection  with  the  sources  of  all  spiritual  life 
and  spiritual  power.  With  these  conditions  fulfilled,  the  fruitful- 
ness will  follow  as  a  matter  of  course :  "He  that  abideth  in  me 
and  I  in  him,  the  same  bringeth  forth  much  fruit."  John  15:5. 
It  is  a  fact  of  the  utmost  importance  that  whatever  our  process 
of  spiritual  regeneration  may  have  been  or  our  Christian  ex- 
perience since  conversion,  if  we  havq  this  close  and  intimate  con- 
nection with  the  life  and  character  of  our  Saviour  we  shall  indeed 
show  forth  the  fruits  of  the  spirit.  And  if  this  vital  spiritual 
relationship  is  lacking,  be  our  professions  ever  so  earnest  or  our 
outward  lives  ever  so  correct,  or  our  words  ever  so  full  of 
the  appearance  of  charity,  then  our  lives  must  remain  spiritually 
unfruitful  and  barren  in  the  sight  of  God.  "Though  I  speak 
with  the  tongues  of  men  or  of  angels,"  "though  I  have  the  gift 
of  prophecy  and  understand  all  mysteries  and  all  knowledge," 


1 62 

"though  I  bestow  all  my  goods  to  feed  the  poor  and  have  not 
charity,  I  am  nothing."  Professions  will  not  avail,  neither  will 
the  shadow  of  godliness :  "Not  every  one  that  saith  unto  me, 
Lord,  Lord,  shall  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  but  he  that 
doeth  the  will  of  my  Father  which  is  in  heaven."  Matthew  5 :  21. 
What  are  the  evidences  of  conversion  as  judged  by  the  results 
of  "fruits"?  The  Lord  expects  "fruit"  in  his  spiritual  vineyard. 
The  character  of  the  fruits  of  the  spirit  has  been  noted.  What, 
now,  is  the  relation  of  conversion  and  Christian  experience  to  the 
matter  of  Christian  f ruitfulness  ?  Have  conversions  of  the  radical 
type  the  largest  claim  upon  us  when  judged  by  the  standard 
of  Christian  f ruitfulness  ?  Are  the  more  violent  and  more  ex- 
treme types  of  religious  experience  in  conversion  more  fruitful  of 
permanent  spiritual  results  than  the  normal  types  of  simple  trust 
and  quiet  assurance?  If  the  striking  spiritual  experience  of  the 
emotional  type  of  conversion  is  the  only  genuine  kind,  as  some 
would  claim,  then  manifestly  those  who  have  had  these  brilliant 
experiences  ought  to  be  superior  in  Christian  character  or  more 
fruitful  in  works  of  love  and  mercy.  If  the  volcanic  religious 
disturbances  found  in  some  extreme  cases  of  emotional  conversion 
are  due  only  to  the  powerful  agency  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  then  the 
effect  of  such  gracious,  supernatural  activity  should  be  noticeable 
and  permanent.  But  is  such  the  case?  Most  assuredly  not. 
Prof.  James  has  these  pertinent  remarks  about  the  "fruits"  of 
brilliant  religious  experience:  "Well,  how  is  it  with  the 
fruits?  If  we  except  the  class  of  preeminent  saints  whose 
names  illumine  history  and  consider  only  the  usual  run  of 
saints,  the  shop-keeping  church  members,  and  ordinary  youth- 
ful or  middle-aged  recipients  of  instantaneous  conversion, 
whether  at  revivals  or  in  the  spontaneous  course  of  meth- 
odistic  growth,  you  will  probably  agree  that  no  splendor 
worthy  of  a  wholly  supernatural  creature  fulgurates  from  them 
or  sets  them  apart  from  the  mortals  who  have  never  experienced 
that  favor."  If  a  special  emotional  experience  in  conversion  is 
indispensable  to  a  genuine  Christian  life  and  imparts  special  gifts 
and  graces  to  those  who  are  privileged  to  enjoy  such  brilliant 
experiences,   then  there  ought  to  be  tangible  evidence  of  such 


1 63 

unwonted  gracious  influences  in  the  visible  "fruits'"  of  character 
and  conduct.  But  it  would  be  difficult  to  discover  any  such  con- 
vincing evidence.  It  surely  cannot  be  claimed  that  the  Qiristian 
disciples  of  the  revival  type  are  more  fruitful  in  missionary 
activity,  or  more  generous  in  their  church  benevolences,  or  more 
disinterested  in  their  social  and  political  duties  or  more  exemplary 
in  their  private  and  family  relationships  than  those  of  the  non- 
revival  type.  And  it  is  equally  evident  that  the  members  of  the 
non-revival  churches,  as  a  class,  are  just  as  sincere  in  their  reli- 
gious professions,  just  as  honest  in  their  business  relations,  just 
as  exemplary  in  their  personal  lives  and  just  as  faithful  in  their 
social  and  family  duties  as  the  adherents  of  the  revivalistic  de- 
nominations. If  it  is  impossible  to  detect  any  difference  in  life 
and  conduct  between  the  man  who  entered  the  kingdom  through 
a  brilliant  conversion  and  the  one  who  came  by  the  more  quiet 
process  of  growth  and  development,  then  we  may  safely  conclude 
that  there  is  no  superior  value  in  brilliant  emotional  experiences, 
when  judged  by  the  standard  of  fruits  of  the  spirit  in  the 
Christian  life  and  character.  If  the  process  of  conversion  through 
Christian  culture  and  that  of  conversion  through  a  radical  change 
produces  virtually  the  same  spiritual  results,  namely,  the  requisite 
fruits  of  the  spirit,  in  the  majority  of  cases,  then  it  is  important 
that  we  spend  less  time  in  discussing  the  relative  merits  of  dif- 
ferent processes  of  religious  growth  and  development  and  more 
time  in  emphasizing  the  fruits  of  the  converted  life.  "By  their 
fruits  ye  shall  know  them."  Wherever  the  fruits  of  the  spirit 
are  manifest,  there  we  may  be  sure  of  finding  the  gracious  influ- 
ences of  the  spirit  active. 

Jonathan  Edwards,  the  greatest  promoter  of  revivals  in  Colonial 
times  and  the  author  of  the  most  exhaustive  work  on  the  Religious 
Affections,  places  the  greatest  emphasis  upon  the  Christian  graces 
as  fruits  of  the  spirit.  Earnest  believer  that  he  was  in  the 
emotional  type  of  conversion,  he  yet  recognized  the  fact  that  the 
real  test  of  the  Christian  life  is  after  all  not  in  special  signs 
and  experiences  during  conversion,  but  in  the  possession  of  the 
true  spirit  of  Christ  and  in  the  production  of  the  necessary  fruits 
of  the  Christian  life  enjoined  by  the  Master.     And  so  he  makes 


164 

these  discriminating  remarks  as  to  the  evidences  of  conversion. 
It  is  no  sign  that  a  man  is  or  that  he  is  not  a  converted  man, 
"if  his  religious  affections  are  very  great  or  raised  very  high," 
so  that  "they  have  great  effects  on  the  body,"  or  that  "those  who 
have  these  affections  are  fluent,  fervent  and  abundant  in  talking 
of  things  religious,"  or  that  the  religious  states  are  accompanied 
by  "texts  of  Scripture  remarkably  brought  to  mind,"  or  that 
comforts  and  joys  seem  to  follow  awakenings  and  convictions 
of  conscience  in  a  certain  order,  or  "that  persons  be  zealously  en- 
gaged in  the  external  duties  of  worship,"  or  that  "persons  are 
led  with  their  mouths  to  praise  and  glorify  God,"  or  that  they 
have  great  confidence  that  what  they  have  experienced  "is  divine 
and  that  they  are  in  a  good  estate,"  or  that  they  think  they  can 
discern  "the  good  estate  of  others  as  though  it  were  immediately 
revealed  from  heaven."  Edwards  stoutly  maintains  that  these 
various  states  and  dispositions  are  no  sign  that  a  person  is  a 
Christian  or  that  he  is  not  a  Christian,  because  they  can  be 
imitated  and  counterfeited  by  Satan. 

On  the  other  hand,  according  to  Edwards,  the  distinguishing 
signs  of  a  true  spiritual  life  are  such  as  these :  "Affections  that 
are  truly  spiritual  and  gracious  come  from  those  influences  and 
operations  on  the  heart  which  are  spiritual,  supernatural  and 
divine,"  "founded  on  the  loveliness  and  moral  excellency  of  divine 
things,"  "the  mind  being  enlightened  richly  and  spiritually  to 
understand  and  apprehend  divine  things,"  "gracious  affections 
are  attended  with  Evangelical  humiliation,"  "a  dove-like  spirit  of 
love,  meekness,  quietness,  forgiveness  and  mercy,  as  it  appears 
in  Christ,"  "a  Christian  tenderness  of  spirit,"  "spiritual  appetite 
and  longing  after  spiritual  attainments,"  "fruits  in  Christian  prac- 
tice." These  and  other  terms  abound  in  almost  every  page  of 
Edwards'  treatise  on  the  "Religious  Affections."  These  are  the 
evidences  and  unmistakable  signs  of  true  religion.  And  the  greatest 
of  these  is  "fruits  in  Christian  practice."  Edwards  continues : 
"Christian  practice  is  the  sign  of  signs  in  this  sense,  that  it  is 
the  great  evidence  which  confirms  and  crowns  all  other  signs  of 
godliness.  There  is  no  one  grace  of  the  spirit  of  God  but  that 
Christian  practice  is  the  most  decisive  evidence  of  the  truth  of 


i65 

it.     It  is  the  proper  evidence  of  repentance.     Christian  practice  is 
the  chief  of  all  the  signs  of  saving  grace." 

Jesus  emphasized  the  "doing  of  His  will"  as  the  real  test  of 
discipleship.  He  closed  His  Sermon  on  the  Mount  by  declaring: 
"Whosoever  heareth  these  sayings  of  mine  and  doeth  them  shall  be 
likened  unto  a  man  who  built  his  house  upon  the  rock."  "And 
everyone  that  heareth  these  sayings  of  mine  and  doeth  them  not, 
shall  be  likened  unto  a  foolish  man  who  built  his  house  upon  the 
sand."  Matthew  7  :  24,  26.  Qirist  came  to  do  his  Father's  will.  And 
He  wants  us  to  do  His  will  and  to  keep  His  commandments. 
And  the  doing  of  His  will  and  the  keeping  of  His  commandments 
find  expression  in  Christian  conduct.  "He  that  hath  the  Son 
hath  life."  So  we  may  say,  he  that  hath  the  spirit  doeth  the 
works  of  the  spirit.  And  the  reverse  is  also  true.  He  that  doeth 
not  the  works  of  the  spirit  hath  not  the  spirit  and  is  therefore 
none  of  His.  And  the  "fruits  of  the  spirit"  are  made  manifest 
by  living  our  lives  in  the  spirit  of  Christ  and  by  rendering  our 
service  in  His  spirit  and  in  His  name.  Christ's  final  word  of 
approval  is  the  recognition  of  services  rendered  to  His  children 
in  his  name.  The  words,  "Come  ye  blessed  of  my  Father," 
were  spoken  to  those  who  had  ministered  to  Christ  through  His 
children.  "For  I  was  an  hungered  and  ye  gave  me  meat.  I  was 
thirsty  and  ye  gave  me  drink.  I  was  a  stranger  and  ye  took 
me  in.  Naked  and  ye  clothed  me.  I  was  sick  and  ye  visited 
me.  I  was  in  prison  and  ye  came  unto  me."  Matthew  25  :  35, 
36.  And  when  those  on  the  right  hand  claimed  no  knowledge  of 
having  done  these  things  to  Jesus,  He  said :  "Inasmuch  as  ye  have 
done  it  unto  one  of  the  least  of  these  my  brethren,  ye  have  done 
it  unto  me."  Matthew  25 :  40.  Failure  to  show  the  fruits 
of  the  spirit  in  the  spirit  of  the  Master  was  the  cause  for  con- 
demnation to  those  on  the  left  side.  "Inasmuch  as  ye  have  not 
done  it  unto  one  of  the  least  of  these  my  brethren,  ye  have  not  done 
it  unto  me."  Matthew  25:41.  "And  these" — the  sluggards  and 
drones  in  the  spiritual  kingdom — "shall  go  away  into  everlasting- 
punishment,"  because  they  failed  to  produce  in  their  lives  the 
peaceable  "fruits"  of  righteousness  in  Christian  service.  Not 
profession,  nor  confession,  but  service  is  required.     "Not  every 


i66 

one  that  saith  unto  me,  Lord,  Lord,  shall  enter  into  the  kingdom 
of  heaven,  but  he  that  doeth  the  will  of  my  Father  who  is  in 
heaven."     Matthew  7  :  21. 

As  we  come  to  the  end  of  our  discussion  of  these  serious 
and  important  problems,  the  conviction  is  forced  upon  us 
with  ever-increasing  impressiveness  that  the  all-essential  thing 
in  life  is  the  "spirit"  of  Jesus  Christ  himself  and  the 
"fruits"  of  the  spirit  as  revealed  in  a  life  of  love  and 
service.  The  possession  of  the  Christ-spirit  is  the  first 
thing.  The  entrance  to  the  kingdom  is  through  the  gate  of 
simplicity,  of  trustfulness  and  of  childlike  faith.  Jesus  is  will- 
ing to  impart  His  spirit  to  all  who  "hunger  and  thirst  after 
righteousness,"  that  He  may  feed  them  the  bread  of  life  and 
refresh  them  at  the  inexhaustible  fountain  of  "living  waters." 
The  coming  to  Christ  with  hungry  hearts  and  thirsty  souls  is  the 
first  step  so  that  he  may  give  us  of  His  spirit  and  fill  us  with  His 
bounty.  "Blessed  are  they  which  do  hunger  and  thirst  after 
righteousness  for  they  shall  be  filled."  And  again:  "If  thou 
knewest  the  gift  of  God  and  who  it  is  that  saith  unto  thee,  'Give 
me  to  drink,'  thou  wouldst  have  asked  of  him  and  he  would  have 
given  thee  Hving  water."  "Whosoever  drinketh  of  the  water 
that  I  shall  give  him  shall  never  thirst ;  but  the  water  that  I  shall 
give  him  shall  be  in  him  a  well  of  water  springing  up  into 
everlasting  life."  John  4:10,  14.  The  truth  of  Jesus  and  the 
spirit  of  His  life,  appropriated  by  a  living  faith,  may  thus  become 
perennial  sources  of  spiritual  power  and  refreshment.  And 
whether  we  come  into  the  possessioin  of  Christ's  life  and  spirit 
through  a  process  of  Christian  culture  and  training,  or  through 
a  sudden  transformation  of  our  spiritual  natures  in  conversion, 
is  matter  of  small  moment  so  long  as  we  are  fully  conscious  of 
being  in  possession  of  the  spirit.  We  need  to  come  continually  in 
the  spirit  of  childlike  trust  and  teachableness  and  ask  Him  to 
teach  us  of  His  wisdom  and  to  inspire  us  with  His  zeal  and  to 
fill  us  with  His  spiritual  presence,  so  that  we  may  be  able  to 
show  forth  His  love  and  wisdom  in  our  lives  and  to  reflect  His 
divine  graciousness  and  beauty  in  our  characters.  To  live  the  life 
of  faith,  to  do  the  will  of  Him  that  saved  us  and  redeemed  us, 


167 

to  love  the  Lord  our  God  with  all  our  hearts  and  our  neighbors 
as  ourselves,  to  "follow  the  Master"  in  His  mission  of  service 
and  self-surrender,  to  minister  to  the  lowly  and  needy,  to  carry 
the  bread  and  water  of  life  to  the  hungry  and  thirsty  souls  of 
God's  children,  these  are  some  of  the  duties  and  privileges  imposed 
upon  us  as  children  of  God's  spiritual  kingdom ;  and  in  the  faithful 
and  loving  performance  of  these  lowly  services  in  the  spirit 
and  for  the  sake  of  the  Master,  we  do  show  forth  most  effectually 
the  "fruits"  of  the  spirit. 

V.     Concluding  Remarks. 

The  great  question  with  us,  therefore,  should  be,  "Are  we  living 
the  life  of  the  spirit  and  do  we  shew  forth  the  'fruits'  of  the 
spirit"  in  our  lives  here  and  now.  Do  we  really  love  the  Lord 
our  God  with  all  our  hearts  and  our  neighbors  as  ourselves  in 
the  sense  that  we  have  an  overpowering  regard  for  the  interests 
of  God's  kingdom  and  an  unselfish  and  a  disinterested  desire  to  do 
good  to  our  fellow-men?  Is  it  really  our  supreme  delight  to  do 
the  will  of  our  Father  which  is  in  heaven?  Is  our  faith  in  the 
Lord  Jesus  a  living,  personal  faith  which  takes  hold  of  our 
lives  and  which  appropriates  the  mercies  and  sacrifices  of  Jesus 
for  spiritual  nourishment  and  refreshment  ?  Have  we  surrendered 
our  wills  to  God's  will  and  our  lives  to  His  guidance  and  control 
in  such  a  complete  and  unreserved  way  that  we  are  ready  at 
all  times  and  under  all  circumstances  to  say,  "Not  my  will,  but 
thine,  O  Lord,  be  done"?  Is  our  highest  aim  in  life  to  con- 
form to  the  spirit  and  character  of  Jesus  Christ,  who  is  the  express 
image  of  the  invisible  God,  so  that  we  may  grow  up  "into  Him" 
in  all  things  and  "come  into  the  unity  of  the  faith  and  of  the 
knowledge  of  the  Son  of  God  unto  a  perfect  man,  unto  the  measure 
of  the  stature  of  the  fulness  of  Christ"  ?  Is  it  the  supreme  and  all- 
absorbing  desire  of  our  lives  to  be  really  "emptied  of  self"  so  that 
we  may  be  "filled  with  all  the  fulness  of  God,"  to  the  end  that  our 
feeble  lives  may  be  instruments  in  the  hands  of  God  for  the 
"furtherance    of    the    Gospel,"    and    the    building    up    of    His 


i68 

kingdom  in  the  hearts  of  His  children.  If  we  can  answer  these- 
questions  in  the  affirmative,  then  we  may  know  absolutely  that  we 
are  in  a  state  of  regeneration  and  of  salvation,  whatever  our 
method  of  conversion  or  the  type  of  our  Christian  experience 
may  have  been.  The  important  question  is  not,  "How  did  I 
become  a  member  of  God's  spiritual  household,"  or  "What  were 
my  experiences  during  conversion,"  but  "Am  I  a  member  of  the 
kingdom  now?"  Not  how  we  entered  into  the  spiritual  Zion,  or 
by  what  road  we  approached  the  gates,  or  what  were  the  con- 
ditions of  being  admitted,  but  the  consciousness  of  the  blessed 
fact  of  being  in  the  spiritual  Zion  now  and  of  being  permitted  to 
behold  its  dazzling  splendor  and  to  participate  in  its  glorious 
services  and  to  worship  at  the  feet  of  Him  who  sits  upon  the 
throne,  these  are  the  supreme  facts  to  be  considered.  Whether  we 
have  entered  the  heavenly  Zion  through  the  gate  of  feeling, 
or  through  the  gate  of  intelligence  and  reason,  or  through  the 
gate  of  a  childlike  trust  and  simplicity,  is  a  matter  of  small 
consequence,  so  long  as  we  really  have  entered  and  passed  in 
"through  the  gates  into  the  city"  of  the  New  Jerusalem,  "whose 
Builder  and  Maker  is  God." 

In  conclusion,  I  wish  to  quote  from  Pres.  King's  excellent 
pamphlet  on  "Christian  Training  and  the  Revival  as  Methods  of 
Converting  Men."  I  quote  rather  freely,  and  the  italics  are  mine. 
Says  Prof.  King:  "For  myself,  the  conception  that  best  brings 
together  all  the  types  of  religious  experience  and  best  enables  one 
to  do  justice  to  all,  that  can  include  the  sudden  and  gradual  con- 
version and  the  life  that  seems  to  have  lived  always  in  the  light, 
that  can  include  the  methods  of  both  Christian  training  and  the 
revival,  that  in  particular  can  do  full  justice  to  feeling  in  religion, 
and  yet  indicate  its  plain  limits,  and  the  conception,  which  at  the 
same  time  seems  to  me  truest  to  the  lines  of  Christ's  own  revela- 
tion, is  the  conception  of  the  religious  life  as  a  personal  relation 
with  the  personal  God.  The  conditions  and  laws  of  such  a  life 
would  be  those  of  a  deepening  friendship.  And  this  thoroughly 
personal  conception  seems  to  me  best  of  all  able  to  do  justice 
to  the  deepest  elements  of  Christian  experience  at  the  same  time 
that  it  guards  most  delicately  against  all  possible  excesses.      It 


169 

is  able,  I  believe,  to  take  up  into  itself  all  the  justifiable  elements 
of  mysticism,  and  yet  avoid  its  errors. 

"And  a  true  mysticism  knows  that  the  spirit,  reverent  of  per- 
sonality, leads  to  a  self-restraint  that  does  not  seek  the  emotional 
experience  simply  as  such  on  any  conditions,  but  knowing  the 
supreme  psychological  conditions  of  happiness  and  character  and 
influence,  it  loses  itself  in  an  unselfish  love,  and  in  absorbing  work, 
and  in  rational  attention  to  the  great  spiritual  realities,  and  under- 
stands that  it  must  simply  let  the  experiences  come.  It  will  have 
nothing  therefore  to  do  with  strained  emotion  or  with  tJte  working 
up  of  feeling  for  its  ozmt  sake.  It  seeks  health,  not  merely  the 
signs  of  health.  It  recognizes  that  the  supreme  joy  is  joy  in 
personal  life,  joy  in  entering  into  the  revelation  of  a  person ;  and  it 
believes  with  reason  that  a  grozving  acquaintance  with  God  must 
have  such  heights  and  depths  of  meaning  as  no  other  personal  rela- 
tion can  have.  True  mysticism  is  therefore  not  afraid  or  dis- 
trustful of  true  emotion — of  joy  or  peace,  of  intense  longmg  or 
of  keen  satisfaction — in  the  religious  life.  But  it  views  with  deep 
distrust  an  emotional  emphasis  in  religion  which  ignores  the 
ethical.  It  cannot  forget  that  Christ  thought  that  everything 
must  be  tested  by  its  fruits  in  life." 

The  true  Christian  life  is  a  life  of  faith  and  trust.  Ray  Palmer, 
the  author  of  that  precious  hymn,  "My  faith  looks  up  to  Thee," 
has  expressed  the  spirit  of  a  life  of  simple  faith  and  childlike 
trust  in  the  following  beautiful  verses  in  "Father,  Lead  On." 

I  take  pleasure  in  bringing  this  treatise  on  Conversion  and  Re- 
ligious Experience  to  a  close  in  the  words  of  the  poet,  believing 
that  the  beautiful  spirit  of  trustfulness  embodied  in  this  devout 
prayer  for  spiritual  guidance  expresses  the  repentant  and  sub- 
missive attitude  of  heart,  out  of  which  all  true  religious  experience 
must  flow. 

FATHER,   LEAD   ON. 

My  Father  God^  lead  on ! 
Calmly  I  follow  where  Thy  guiding  hand 
Directs  my  steps.     I  would  not  trembling  stand. 


170 

Though  all  before  the  way 
Is  dark  as  night,  I  stay 
My  soul  on  Thee,  and  say : 
Father,  I  trust  Thy  love :  lead  on. 

Jesus  as  Thou  wilt :  lead  on ! 
For  I  am  as  a  child,  and  know  not  how 
To  tread  the  starless  path  whose  windings  now 

Lie  hid  from  mortal  ken. 

Although  I  know  not  when 

Sweet  day  will  dawn  again, 
Father,  I  wait  Thy  will :   lead  on. 

I  ask  not  why  :  lead  on  ! 
Mislead,  Thou  canst  not,  though  through  days  of  grief 
And  nights  of  anguish,  pangs  without  relief, 

Or  fears  that  would  o'erthrow 

My  faith.  Thou  bidst  me  go. 

Thy  changeless  love,  I  know. 
Father,  my  soul  will  keep :   lead  on. 

With  Thee  is  light :  lead  on ! 
When  dank  and  chill  at  eve  the  night  mists  fall, 
O'erhanging  all  things  like  a  dismal  pall. 

The  gloom,  with  dawn  hath  fled ; 

So,  though  'mid  shades  I  tread. 

The  dayspring  o'er  my  head, 
Father,  from  Thee  shall  break :   lead  on. 

The  way  is  peace :  lead  on  ! 
Made  heir  of  all  things,  I  were  yet  unblest, 
Didst  Thou  not  dwell  with  me  and  make  me  rest 

Beneath  the  brooding  wing 

That  Thou  dost  o'er  me  fling, 

Till  Thou  thyself  shalt  bring, 
Father,  my  spirit  home :   lead  on. 


171 

Thou  givest  strength  :   lead  on  ! 
I  cannot  sink  while  Thy  right  hand  upholds, 
Nor  comfort  lack  while  Thy  kind  arm  enfolds. 

Through  all  my  soul  I  feel 

A  healing  influence  steal, 

While  at  Thy  feet  I  kneel, 
Father,  in  lowly  trust:  lead  on. 

'Twill  soon  be  o'er :  lead  on  ! 
Left  all  behind,  earth's  heartaches  then  shall  seem 
Even  as  memories  of  a  vanished  dream ; 

And  when  of  griefs  and  tears 

The  golden  fruit  appears, 

Amid  the  eternal  years, 
Father,  all  thanks  be  Thine!     Lead  on. 


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